Showtime World Championship Boxing Preview: Broner vs. Granados, Peterson vs. Avanesyan, Browne vs. Williams
By: William Holmes
On Saturday Night Mayweather Promotions, TGB Promotions, and About Billions Promotions will televise three high caliber fights on the Showtime Network live from the Cintas Center at Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio.
The opening bout will be between undefeated United States Olympian Marcus Browne and Light Heavyweight contender Thomas Williams Jr. The co-main event of the evening will be between David Avanesyan and the returning Lamont Peterson in the welterweight division.
The main event of the night will be between Cincinnati native Adrien Broner and Adrian Granados in the welterweight division.
The following is a preview of all three televised bouts.
Marcus Browne (18-0) vs. Thomas Williams Jr. (20-2); Light Heavyweight Division
Marcus Browne represented the United States in the 2012 Summer Olympics and is a former National Police Athletic League Champion. He comes from a deep amateur background but will be facing one of the toughest tests of his career when he takes on former Light Heavyweight Title Contender Thomas Williams Jr.
Both boxers are southpaws, but Browne will have a slight ½ inch height advantage and an imposing four and a half inch reach advantage. Both boxers have decent power as Browne has stopped thirteen of his opponents while Williams has stopped fourteen. However, it should be noted that both of Williams’ losses have come by stoppage, so his chin can be considered questionable.
Williams has been fairly active and has fought twice in 2016 and once in 2015. His two losses were to Gabriel Campillo and Adonis Stevenson. He has defeated the likes of Edwin Rodriguez, Cornelius White, Yusaf Mack, and Otis Griffin.
Browne has never tasted defeat but won a very questionable decision over Radivoje Kalajdzic in his last bout. He has defeated the likes of Gabriel Campillo, Cornelius White, Aaron Pryor Jr., and Otis Griffin.
This will be Williams’ first fight since his devastating knockout loss to Adonis Stevenson. Williams was doing well in that bout, but unwisely chose to slug with a knockout artist. Browne isn’t considered by many to be a knockout artist, but he has a strong amateur pedigree and will likely be able to outbox and outlast Williams.
This is a good test for Browne and should be a compelling fight, but Browne should be considered the slight favorite.
David Avanesyan (22-1-1) vs. Lamont Peterson (37-3-1); WBA Welterweight Title
Lamont Peterson has been in some very entertaining fights during his career, but didn’t have any fights in 2016 and had no fights in 2015. He’s also thirty three years old and will be five years older than Avanesyan on fight night.
Avanesyan has spent most of his career fighting in Europe and Russia and wasn’t known by many until he defeated a washed up version of Shane Mosley. Avanesyan has been slightly more active than Peterson and fought once in 2016 and twice in 2015.
Avanesyan will be giving up one inch in height and about four inches in reach to Lamont Peterson. Peterson is also the better knockout artist as he has stopped seventeen of his opponents and Avanesyan has only stopped eleven.
Peterson’s losses were to Timothy Bradley Jr., Lucas Matthysse, and a razor thin decision loss to Danny Garcia. He has beaten the likes of Felix Diaz, Dierry Jean, Kendall Holt, Amir Khan, Lanardo Tyner, and Victor Cayo.
Avanesyan’s professional resume pales in comparison to Peterson. He has defeated the likes of Carlos Herrera, Shane Mosley, Kaizer Mabuza, and and Charlie Navarro. His lone loss was to Andrey Klimov in the second fight of his career.
Hopefully ring rust won’t be a factor for Peterson, but he’s been known to start fights slowly and warm up to the end. If Peterson waits too long to attack the body he could give up some early rounds and lose another close decision.
But Peterson has been in big fights before and he’s used to the pressure of a nationally televised audience. This experience gives him the edge over Avanesyan on Saturday.
Adrien Broner (32-2) vs. Adrian Granados (18-4-2); Welterweight Division
A lot of people have been questioning Broner’s conditioning and commitment to boxing as he has recently requested that this fight be fought at the welterweight limit and he appears to be several pounds over his normal fighting weight at recent press conferences.
Broner and Granados are both twenty seven years old, but Broner will be giving up two and a half inches in height and four and a half inches in reach. Both boxers are also similar in that they both have a decorated amateur background. Broner was a National Silver Gloves Champion and Granados was a Mexican Olympic Team Reserve and a Junior Golden Gloves Champ.
Broner is the bigger puncher of the two. He has stopped twenty four of his opponents while Granados has only stopped twelve. They both went 5-1 in their last six fights.
Granados has losses to Brad Solomon, Felix Diaz, Frankie Gomez, and Joe Juan Fuentes. He has beaten the likes of Amir Imam, Kermit Cintron, and Lanardo Tyner. His win over Imam was a major upset and likely got him this bout with Broner.
Broner has defeated the likes of Ashley Theophane, Khabib Allakhverdiev, John Molina, Emmanuel Taylor, Carlos Molina, Paulie Malignaggi, Antonio DeMarco, Daniel Ponce De Leon, and Jason Litzau. His losses were to Macros Maidana and Shawn Porter.
Broner’s recent appearances and social media drama gives this writer some concern going into Saturday, but this bout will be fought in Broner’s hometown and Granados, absent one upset victory, has never faced or defeated someone on the talent level of Adrien Broner.
Of the three televised bouts this one will likely be the biggest blowout.