Chicago junior welterweight
prospect Adrian Granados returns to his hometown of Cicero tonight to face
fellow Chicagoan Antonio Canas.
For Granados, it will be the
third time he will step into the ring in 2012. However, the 23-year old has not
fought since his win over Ramon Guevara in April. The time off has been one of
the longest stretches of inactivity for Granados’ career.
“At first, I was a little
nervous [about the time off].” Granados said. “The first two weeks were a
little tough but once I got back into the moment, it’s just like where things
left off.”
Granados’ return fight will
have him matching up against Antonio Canas, 6-0-1 (3). Granados, 9-1-1 (6) (according to FightFax), and Canas are quite familiar
with each other and have been put on two of the same cards in Chicago. Both
fighters have built a local following that is expected to turn out at Cicero
Stadium.
“I feel it’s a good match-up,”
Granados said. “He’s a tough guy. He’s got a very aggressive style and he’s
just kind of keeps on coming. I don’t shy away from a gunfight either and not
only that, I’ll be able to display some good boxing skills in the fight.”
As for fighting in his
hometown, Granados said he was very excited. “It was funny. I used to always go
to Cicero Stadium when they used to put on all those [Telefutura] ‘Solo Boxeo’
shows as an amateur,” he said. “I would always pretend that’d it be awesome if
I was the main event. Now they’re here to see me. It’s kind of surreal that
it’s actually happening now.”
If Granados wins the fight,
he’s eyeing an active 2013. Granados told Maxboxing he would like to five or
six times in the following year. Granados even quit his regular day job of
working at a bank to focus solely on his boxing career.
Besides staying active,
Granados mentioned he would like to fight the numerous junior welterweight
prospects such as Jose Benavidez Jr. and Jessie Vargas and get a rematch with
Frankie Gomez. Granados fought Gomez in August 2011 and lost a close majority
decision in which he was knocked down in round three.
“I’ve evolved a lot since
[the Gomez] fight,” Granados said. “The training has really struck me now. I
make smarter decisions as far who’s handling me and as far as a fighter, I’ve
learned a lot from that fight.”
“I know probably down the
line, I’ll have to fight any of those three if I want to make it anywhere in
boxing. I’m definitely looking at a Frankie Gomez rematch,” he added.
For now, Granados’ focus is
on Canas. In February, Granados squared off against fellow Chicago prospect
Jaime Herrera in a toe-to-toe fight. Granados, who beat Herrera by unanimous
decision, said his experience in that fight has made him more prepared.
“Canas has a good following
and a lot of people believe in him,” he said. “Usually a lot of times when
Chicago prospects are brought up, he’s one of the first names to drop. I know a
lot of people are putting their faith in him.”
“It will be good for the
both of us and hopefully the winner will come out on top.”
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