By Carlos Boogs

George Hernandez, the trainer of junior welterweight contender Adrian Granados (18-4-2, 12 KOs), believes they are catching Adrien Broner (32-2, 24 KOs) at the right moment.

Their Showtime televised fight take place on Saturday from the Cintas Center at Xavier University in Cincinnati.

Broner, a former four division world champion, has been very inactive based on his usual level of activity. He usually fights at least three to four times a year, but last year he only had a single fight.

 

Broner last fought in April of  2016, when he stopped Ashley Theophane. In that contest, Broner was set to defend his WBA junior welterweight title. He lost the title on the scale after failing to make weight. 

That pattern has continued for the upcoming fight with Granados. Broner is once again struggling with weight. The contest was scheduled to take place at a catch-weight of 142. Last week, Broner requested a change in weight - and now the fight is taking place at the full welterweight limit of 147-pounds.

Hernandez wants his boxer to dish out a beating and repeat their stunning upset from 2015, when Granados knocked out undefeated and highly regarded Amir Imam.

"Broner puts his gloves on the same way we do. This is what we want. We want the big names. Beating Broner can get us to the next level. No one is going to give us anything. We need to earn it. We're going to his backyard and we're going to take it from him," Hernandez said.

"If Adrian can beat the hell out of this kid in his hometown that will send a message to all the kids in this community. It will let them know that you can succeed and do great things. Every kid that's in here dreams of this opportunity. We're ready and we're not going to let it slip away."

Granados and his trainer are very involved with their local boxing scene in Chicago, which is one of the roughest cities in the United States. They want to inspire the local youth by shocking Broner.

"This is one of the toughest areas to train in. If you can persevere through that you know you can make it in this sport. We could have gone away for camp but we wanted to stay here because it's home. The only way to make this city better is by staying here and leading the charge and showing these kids that we can get away from that norm and bring better attention to this area," Hernandez said.