Welterweight contender Conor ‘The Destroyer’ Benn 19-0 (12) had to settle for a clear-cut 10-round unanimous decision victory over Mexico’s Adrian ‘Tigre’ Granados 21-9-3 (15) at Headingley Rugby League Stadium in Leeds, England on Saturday night.
The 24-year-old Brit, who is ranked WBC number 11, WBA number 12 and IBF number 13 at 147-pounds, did his best to press the action but Granados, 32, didn’t appear keen to engage.
Benn went the 10-round distance for just the third time in his career to win by scores of 99-91, 100-90 and 97-93.
The fight took place on the undercard of the rematch between Leeds hero Josh Warrington and Mauricio Lara. In their first bout Mexican Lara stopped out Warrington in the ninth following a fourth round knockdown of the local fighter.
Benn, who is the son of former WBO middleweight and WBC super middleweight champion Nigel ‘The Dark Destroyer’ Benn, said he wants to return to fight in Leeds, addressing his promoter Eddie Hearn directly in his post-fight interview.
“Eddie, I need to headline here mate. You need to make that happen,” Benn said.
Hearn promised Benn that he would be back in December.
Benn was clearly annoyed late in the fight when Granados was clearly looking just to survive.
“It was very frustrating,” he said. “He was talking like we were going to come together like Mac trucks and put on a great fight for the fans.
“But he was on his bike the whole fight even though I was ready to go toe-to-toe and let him have it. I had to hunt him down which is what I’ve done.”
“When a Mexican don’t wanna engage, you know you can’t half dig.”
The victory comes five months after Benn blew out Canadian-based Colombian Samuel Vargas 31-7-2 (14) in a single round at the Copper Box Arena in Hackney Wick, London.
Granados came into the fight with solid credentials with four of his seven losses coming to former or future world champions Shawn Porter, Danny Garcia, Adrien Broner and Robert Easter Jr. His three other losses were against Felix Diaz, Brad Solomon and Frankie Gomez who were all undefeated at the time.
The rounds will benefit Benn in his professional development. Germany’s Sebastian Formella took him the 10-round distance at Wembley Stadium in London last November, as did Frenchman Cedrick Peynaud at London’s O2 Arena three years ago.
The plan is for Benn to be ready for a world title tilt by the end of next year.
Errol ‘The Truth’ Spence Jr 27-0 (21) holds the WBC and IBF belts while Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford 37-0 (28) is the WBO boss. Both are Americans.
Miami-based Cuban Yordenis Ugas 27-4 (12) is the WBA champ. He is coming off a unanimous decision victory over Filipino superstar and sure-fire future Hall of Famer Manny Pacquiao 62-8-2 (39) last month.
