Not A Problem

Broner defeated Granados by split decision

This past Saturday night on Showtime, Adrien "The Problem" Broner defeated Chicago’s Adrian "El Tigre" Granados by split decision in Broner’s hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio. All three judges scored the fight differently leading to a split decision victory for the Ohio native. Broner, who has struggled with some personal problems in the last year, claimed to be rededicating himself to the sport of boxing and insisted on facing Granados to prove it. That decision proved to be more than Broner bargained for as Granados had no intention of being a stepping stone. What took place instead was a hotly contested match that saw both fighters push one another to the full 10 round distance in a fight that was more competitive than it appeared to be on paper.

The fight consisted of many close rounds as Broner and Granados would go tit for tat, each imposing their own offense on the other. Broner with his usual, low output, high accurate counter punching style was often offset by Granados’s in and out aggressiveness. That combination led to quite a dilemma in scoring the fight. Which attack did you prefer? Was it Broner occasionally landing the cleaner, harder blows or Granados grinding away at the body while landing the occasional right hand?

Granados attacking Broner to the body

I scored the fight 6 rounds to 4 (or 96-94) for Granados. At Broner’s request, the fight was contracted for 10 rounds. With both fighters fading, but continuing to fight aggressively, it would have been interesting to see how it would have played out had it gone 12 rounds instead.

The victory keeps Broner on the cusp of a big fight, but a look to the future shows that Broner may not be such a big “problem” for the options that lay ahead. As entertaining as the fight was, I could not help but notice how Broner, who is known for having a big punch, never really buzzed Granados despite landing some significant blows. Granados had been dropped 4 times in his career, yet against Broner, he was never in danger of being sent to the canvas. It appears Broner, who was definitely a puncher in the 130, 135 and 140, pound divisions, is not taking his punch with him up to welterweight.

And that begs the question, if Broner, who relied on knocking out his opponents with hard counter punches, is not able to buzz heavier fighters with his counters, how will he contend with the elite fighters in the division? Throughout his 5 fights at welterweight, he has maintained his typical low volume offense. For all of his athletic ability, Broner can be touched and was hit a lot more in this fight than usual. Broner has talked of eventually moving up to 154 pounds, it would appear that 147 already seems to be a branch too high for him.

If in fact 147 is too big a jump for Broner, how would he fare at 140 pounds? At jr. welterweight, Broner has shown flashes of fight ending power. But can he safely make the weight? His fight versus Granados was supposed to take place at 142, but with a week still to go, he opted to move the contracted weight up to 147 pounds, a sign that he was struggling to make weight.

Even if he were able to make the weight, waiting for him would be the ultra talented Terrance “Bud” Crawford. There has also been talk of Broner possibly facing Mikey Garcia next, but nothing from Broner’s performance Saturday suggests he has a chance against either of those fighters.

It is commendable when a person who has faced difficulties in life acknowledges their past discretions and attempts to make changes for the better. I applaud Broner for that. But boxing is an unforgiving sport. The only problem now may be what move does Broner make next, because neither seem to be in his favor.