Headlining on Fox on 4/20 (....) 12 rounds @ welterweight, in a qualifying (but not final*) eliminator for the WBC title. García is currently the number one contender and Granados ranked #10 by the WBC. *The champion, Shawn Porter, has a scheduled mandatory defense against Yordenis Ugas and would then have at least one additional mandatory defense versus another high-rated contender before anything from this match-up would come to fruition, when either Porter vs. Granados II or Porter vs. García II would take place. García has lost two in his last three, albeit versus division giants Porter & Keith Thurman. He also, however, possesses a checkered history of controversial decisions and often being perceived as having fought "down" to his opponents' level, especially when those opponents are plucky & determined journeymen... Granados has, like García, most recently been defeated at Porter's hands, by UD - the only blemish of his career, loss or draw, not to come by a split or majority decision. If you look at the list against whom Granados has lost or drawn in such narrow contests - Félix Díaz, Adrien Broner, Frankie Gómez, Kermit Cintrón, Lanardo Tyner, Brad Solomon - all but one (the obscure José Fuentes) are varying degrees of world class. So he's no slouch...and he and García have already engaged in a bitter war of words on social media, to douse with the gasoline of enmity the flames of Granados' hunger to finally "bag the big one"... OH AND DID I MENTION THIS IS A REKINDLING OF THE MEXICO VS. PUERTO RICO BOXING RIVALRY?!?!?! (err...sort of. Granados is Chicano; García is boricua-American...)
Garcia counters him all day. Granados is a pressure fighter, but lacks the relentlessness, size, and power of Porter.
Both Porter and Garcia are nightmare matchups for Granados. These are sturdy guys with counter punching skills. Granados does nothing better than these 2. He will provide an all out war, but that's it. It will be entertaining to watch, but he'll lose in the end, most likely by wide UD. He actually has a decent chance knocking out the current version of Thurman. He could even expose Spence if he can withstand a few body shots and corner him. But there's no way he has a chance against Porter/Garcia/Crawford. Crawford's style is different, but he's way too slick for Granados. Jessie Vargas/Jeff Horn/Chris Algieri would be nice match ups for him as well. Proper slugfests, difficult to predict.
