Broner Tried to Help Granados Deal With the Ed Brown Tragedy

By Keith Idec

The first time Ed Brown got shot, Adrian Granados was in training camp, helping Adrien Broner prepare for his welterweight title fight against Marcos Maidana.

Broner, a rising star at the time, and Granados were developing a friendship born out of respect established during spirited sparring sessions. When he wasn’t in camp, Granados and Brown were close friends who trained alongside one another at the same gym on the West Side of Chicago for many years.

A sympathetic Broner, also Brown’s friend, tried to console Granados. Cincinnati’s Broner knows all about the ills of street life and he gave Granados the best advice he could once he saw how much Brown’s troubles affected Granados.

“Ed Brown was a hell of a guy, a special type of talent,” Broner said during a conference call Thursday. “I knew him since the amateurs. He was actually a close friend to me. But at the end of the day, like I told Adrian in camp, it’s just some people – you can’t save everybody.”

Granados couldn’t save Ed Brown. No matter how much sound advice Granados gave him, trouble seemed to find the talented welterweight prospect on those perilous streets of Chicago.

Brown didn’t survive the eighth time he got shot December 5 in his hometown.

The 25-year-old Brown was shot in the head while he was sitting in a parked car with a 19-year-old female cousin in that same dangerous Chicago neighborhood Brown refused to leave. He died December 6 at Chicago’s Mount Sinai Hospital.

Brown’s death devastated Granados. One of the first people to check on him was Broner, Granados’ opponent February 18 in Cincinnati.

“It was a heartbreaking situation for Adrian,” Broner said. “But I was there. I was his shoulder to lean on. I was there, we got through it and I tried to make his days better.”

The former four-division champion took a similar approach late in 2013, when Broner came to realize Granados is “a stand-up guy,” someone Broner “loves to death.” Granados never forgot Broner’s kindness, a complete contrast to much of what is written and said about the polarizing Broner.

“The first time Ed was shot, I was in camp with him for the Maidana fight,” Granados recalled. “Ed was shot eight different times. And yeah, the first time it was while I was in camp with him. And yeah, he did look out. They all knew Ed was very close to me. They all knew Ed Brown, too. [Broner] looked out. It was cool of him. [Brown] was my guy. We were like the black and brown twins here in Chicago.”

Despite that they’re preparing to meet in a 12-round welterweight bout Showtime will televise from Xavier University’s Cintas Center, Granados genuinely appreciates Broner’s compassion and friendship.

“He was there for me, just like I was there for him when he was having his scare on the social media, [when] everybody was worried about him,” Granados said, referring to what was perceived to be Broner’s suicide scare in October. “I definitely reached out to his people and told them I was there for him. And I know he was there for me, too, during my tragic loss of my good friend, Ed Brown.

“At the end of the day, we’re both men. And we’re both humans. So when things like what have happened to both of us in the past few months happened, you kind of put the business and boxing out the window, and you worry about the person. So I appreciate him for that.”

Boxing Broner (32-2, 24 KOs) is the biggest opportunity of Granados’ eight-year pro career. If Granados (18-4-2, 12 KOs) pulls off an upset in their “Showtime Championship Boxing” main event, Granados’ life and career will change.

The 27-year-old junior welterweight contender feels an additional responsibility to succeed because he wants to honor Brown’s memory. This was supposed to be the year that Brown, who was 20-0 and had 16 knockouts, was to start making the transition from prospect to contender in the welterweight division.

A supportive Granados was looking forward to watching Brown’s ascent to stardom.

“Ed Brown, that was my best friend in boxing,” said Granados, who has dedicated his performance in the Broner bout to Brown. “That was my little brother in boxing. I know him the most out of anybody in the boxing world, just because we spent the past 12 years pretty much side by side here in Chicago. He was pretty much who I was running with in the juniors at the lower weights. And then once he got older, he was right under me at 132. And I was representing at 141.

“So, I mean, like I said, we were brothers in the ring and we spent countless days here at the gym. I used to pick him, I used to drop him off, I used to always tell him, you know, ‘Stay out of trouble.’ Like Adrien said, there’s some people you can’t save. But that doesn’t change that I lost a good friend and a good man. He was just a great kid. He was always smiling, always positive vibes from him, and it was a terrible loss for boxing.”

Brown became more dedicated to boxing when Cameron Dunkin agreed to co-manage him. Dunkin – who co-manages Terence Crawford and has worked with Timothy Bradley and Kelly Pavlik – arranged an astounding 17 fights for Brown from May 2015-November 2016.

Brown fought for the last time November 11, when he beat Ghana’s Albert Mensah (29-6-1, 13 KOs) by unanimous decision in an eight-rounder in Philadelphia. Dunkin begged Brown to leave Chicago, but Brown wanted to remain in the violence-ravaged neighborhood he knew and continued training at Golden Dome Fieldhouse in East Garfield Park.

The late Brown’s absence has created an obvious void at the gym, where Granados has prepared to battle Broner.

“It’s different here at the gym that we train at because he was the heart of the gym,” Granados said. “And I feel like I now have this huge burden because everybody who sees me now thinks of Ed. They’re like, ‘Oh man, Ed always spoke so highly about you.’ I feel like I have to be twice as great for both of us now.”

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for krikya360.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.