Cicero, Ill. - Adrian
Granados earned an exciting fifth round stoppage in a toe-to-toe battle Friday
against fellow Chicago prospect Antonio Canas at Cicero Stadium.
Midway through the fifth,
Granados landed a counter right hand that stopped Canas from surging forward.
Granados, sensing his opponent was hurt, pressed the action and connected with
a multitude of punches afterward. Referee Celestino Ruiz hastily stopped the
fight as soon as Canas had his back toward the ropes. The official time of the
stoppage was 2:36 as Granados earned his third victory in a row.
“I knew it was going to be a
great fight,” Granados, 11-2-1 (7), said. “I kind of held back [when Canas was
hurt] because I thought the referee was going to step in but he didn’t. I just
kept throwing and [Ruiz] finally stopped it.
“I’m glad we had a good
fight to bring to Cicero,” Granados added. “This is my hometown and I hope I
repped them right.”
In round three, Granados
tried to box from a distance. However, Canas’ pressure drew Granados back into
the trenches. Both fighters had their moments but Granados landed the better
combinations.
Before round five, the fight
was fought in a phone booth. As soon as the bell rang, Canas, 6-1-1 (3),
charged forward and the two fighters exchanged punches throughout the fight. It
was Granados who appeared to be the heavier puncher.
“I was kind of able to do
what I wanted,” Granados said. “When I wanted to bang, we banged it out. When I
wanted to move, I could have made it an easier fight. But when you get in there
and start hearing the crowd, you want to go at it.”
When the fight was stopped,
Canas’ trainer Fernando Hernandez jumped into the ring to scream at referee
Celestino Ruiz. Afterwards, Canas said he was angry at Ruiz’s decision to stop
the fight. “I think they stopped it too early,” Canas said. “He didn’t hurt me.
I was hit a couple of times but I wasn’t dazed. I can take a good shot.
Everyone who knows me knows I can take a good shot.”
“I feel like Celestino was
calling me on my headbutts but wasn’t calling [Granados] on his,” he added. “I
was looking to slow him down in the later rounds. You’re gonna get hit with
some shots but I feel like it was just called early.”
Regarding the stoppage, Ruiz
told Maxboxing, “I saw him taking too much shots and he wasn’t responding to
any of the shots so it’s my job as the referee to protect him.” Ruiz also said,
“In a heated fight like that, I don’t need to give any kind of warning. I can
see when a guy is hurt and that’s my judgment call right there.”
Going forward, Canas said he
wants a rematch in a neutral setting and possibly outside Illinois. The fight
was fought in front of 972 people in Granados’ hometown of Cicero.
“I’m good with that,”
Granados said. “I’ll fight him wherever.”
In the first fight of the
evening, Ed Brown, 1-0 (1), earned his first career victory with a first round
stoppage over Dontre King, 6-14-2 (2). Brown, 144, connected with a beautiful
right hand that stopped the fight at 2:26.
Chicago cruiserweight
prospect Junior Wright, 5-0 (5), stopped Nick Reeder, 3-1-1 (2), in the second
round of a scheduled four-rounder. Reeder went down twice in round two. The official
time of the stoppage was 1:30.
Super middleweight prospect
Paul Littleton wound up struggling more than expected with Jordan Brown as he
earned a unanimous decision by scores of 60-53, 59-55 and 59-54. Littleton got
caught with shots he shouldn’t have throughout the night including being
stunned in the first round.
Littleton regained his
composure and boxed from a distance. Littleton targeted the body often, which
set up a knockdown in the final round.
With the win, Littleton
improves to 6-0-1 (4) as Brown drops to 3-1 (1).
