Who is Adrian Granados?
Facts you need to know about Conor Benn’s next opponent Adrian Granados
WBA #9 Conor ‘The Destroyer’ Benn (18-0, 12KOs) defends his WBA Continental welterweight title for the fourth time to Adrian Granados (21-8-3, 15KOs) on July 31 at the Matchroom Boxing HQ in Brentwood Essex.
The 147-pounders are headlining ‘Week One’ of the hugely successful ‘Fight Camp’ series for the second summer in a row.
Not much is known about the Mexican-American, so BBN found out some facts right here:
Early Life
Born August 14, 1989, Adrian Rene Granados is currently 31-years-old. He was born in Berwyn but raised in Cicero, Illinois, America. He has a dual nationality because his father is Mexican and his mother American.
Sports
As a youth, baseball was Adrian's first sport. He later tried his hand at basketball and American football in his freshman year at the local St. Joseph's Catholic School. He shared the basketball court with future New York Knicks player Derrick Rose and NBA #2 draft pick Evan Turner.
It was during his sophomore year that he took up boxing. His dad was his main influence as he was a boxing fanatic. He says he grew up always watching boxing on TV, listing Julio Cesar Chavez as his favourite. His dad was also take him to local boxing shows that 8-Count Promotions put on in the area, and Adrian would later box on those very same shows.
Amateur Career
As a youngster, Granados had an amateur record of 75-12.
In his first year as an amateur, he won a Silver Gloves Championships, which is a national boxing tournament for children aged 10-15. He then won the 2008 Junior Olympic State and Regional Championships, and was ranked fifth in the national rankings at super-lightweight, and also won the Junior Golden Gloves National Championships and then won bronze at the Ringside World Championships.
Granados was a reserve on the Mexican Olympic Team, but after not being used at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, he decided to turn pro.
Alias
Granados is nicknamed the ‘Tigre’, due to his aggressive boxing style, although others have compared all-out assault attacks to that of a shark in a feeding frenzy!
Team Tigre
His first ever trainer, as an amateur, was Rico Gonzalez. Adrian is now trained by George Hernandez, who has been inducted into the Illinois Boxing Hall of Fame. He has also trained with Hall of Fame trainer Ignacio ‘Nacho’ Beristain in Mexico in the past.
He is advised by his good friend Rick Ramos, who also manages and advises Jessica McCaskill; Tony Maldonado; Jimmy Sandoval; Shawn Simpson; Frankie Scalise; Joshuah Hernandez.
Turning Pro
In his first five fights as a pro, Granados stopped four of his foes, but in his second fight, he was beaten by split decision over four rounds to Jose Juan Fuentes, who was 3-1 at the time. Granados put this down to his trainer, Beristain, not being present, as he was instead in Big Bear training Oscar De La Hoya for his fight with Manny Pacquiao. The young fighter also believed he was 'hustled' when choosing the fight and didn't realise that Fuentes was the huge hometown favourite, dropping him in the second round only for the referee to rule as a slip.
Opponents
His 34 opponents, including Benn, have a combined record of 464-220-19.
He has fought three world champions – Kermit Cintron; Adrien Broner; Shawn Porter.
His top scalp was surprise eighth-round stoppage of rising Golden Boy Promotions prospect Amir Imam (18-0, 15KOs). The 'Young Master' from North Carolina was an American champion and top prospect, highly-ranked with the WBC, so fought for a world title four fights later but lost on points to Jose Carlos Ramirez.
Sparring
Adrian has always been fortunate to benefit from having Juan Manuel Marquez as his sparring partner. He has said before that it was a dream come true to spar with his “favourite boxer of this generation”. He also said that it was very intense, that his power was on another level, and that he learnt a lot.
He also admitted to two other sparring partners having the same power in Adrien Broner and Kermit Cintron.
Friends
Adrian was a close friend of the late Ed ‘Bad Boy’ Brown (20-0, 16KOs), who was gunned down in a drive-by shooting in December 2016. Adrian was heartbroken by his tragic death and promises to honour his friend once his career has finished by doing more to address the ongoing gun violence in Chicago. He aims to be like his trainer, George, who he calls a “blessing to the Chicago boxing community”.
He is also good friends with Adrien Broner, who he fought in 2017, just losing out on a split decision defeat.
Stats
Age: 31
Debut: 20/09/2008
Stance: Orthodox
Height: 5’ 9”
Reach: 71”
Bouts: 33
Rounds: 194
Wins: 21
Wins by KO: 15
KOs: 45.45%
Losses: 8
Losses by KO: 1
Draws: 3
No Contests: 1
Granados next faces English superstar Conor Benn in his home county of Essex on week one of Matchroom Boxing's Fight Camp series. 'The Destroyer' Benn is the firm favourite, but the Mexican-American has upset the odds before when he stopped 18-0 Amir Imam. With Benn also 18-0, it could be a big incentive for Granados to roll back the years to his glory days, so this is a fight not to be missed!
You can follow 'El Tigre' on Twitter here: @ELTigreAG
How to watch Benn-Granados
HÖRFA are proud sponsors of British Boxing News