Is Demetrius Andrade one of the most avoided fighters in the sport?
When it comes to WBO World Middleweight champion Demetrius “Boo Boo” Andrade (29-0, 18 KO’s) there is no denying he is heavily avoided. He has been widely ridiculed and mocked for his choices of opponents, yet he maintains this is not his doing alone. As is common knowledge, it takes two to tango in the ring. If there is no one of a higher caliber willing to answer the call of combat, there is very little that Andrade can do about it.
Without question Boo Boo has pursued a showdown with Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (54-1-2, 36 KO’s) more than any other person on Earth. Andrade has called for the fight for years, over multiple divisions and as both a champion and mandatory challenger. Regardless of the circumstance, Alvarez has avoided the fight like his life depended on it. For the all the accolades that he receives, the redhead has no feasible justification for this naked evasion. The best that he’s offered is stating that Andrade has a boring style. This is an absolutely shameful alibi for why he has ducked his talented rival for so long.
“At the end of the day Canelo wants to be unified undisputed champion with fighting the soft opposition. That’s not a real legacy, that’s not a real champion, that’s not a champion by heart. You have gotten the power through Golden Boy’s work. Listen, Canelo did a great job, he had to win those fights. He’s dedicated, I can tell he’s a hard worker. My hat goes off to any fighter that goes into the ring.
But as far as being pound for pound, bro you’re not being pound for pound when you haven’t beaten anybody that is really known as Demetrius Andrade, a Charlo, Caleb Plant, David Benavidez. Like, these are real names. Not Liam and Callum Smith! Sorry guys, no disrespect to them guys but who have they fought to be like, ‘oh he deserves a fight but not Demetrius Andrade.’”
RUNNING SCARED?
In a recent interview with Fight Hype Boo Boo revealed that the tale gets even more incriminating. Not only did Andrade say that Canelo was avoiding him, he stated that the redhead even took short money to do so!
“When Eddie Hearn said seven million dollars to fight Charlo, no response came. A lot of people might not know this! DAZN offered Canelo five millions dollars more to fight me! Right? Instead he went up and fought [Sergey] Kovalev. He said, ‘no, I’m okay, I’m good with this money right here, I’m going to beat him and become one, two, three, four weight divisional champion against this guy that is done, washed up. Not washed up, but you know Kovalev could beat a lot of guys out there but not the elite guys. His time has came, come, gone, right? ‘So, I’m going to go do that and not have to take no risks.’”
STAY THE COURSE
Clearly, Andrade takes an issue with how Alvarez chooses his opponents and how he has been moved throughout his career. This is nothing new though. Boo Boo has long harped on the redhead’s professional modus operandi for years. In the end, this most recent sit-down was no different.
“Then they are glorifying him as a pound-for-pound guy when his biggest fight is, to me, on his resume, Shane Mosley. ‘The’ Shane Mosley would have whipped his ass, ‘the’ Miguel Cotto would have whooped his ass! You feel what I am saying? And they tried it with Floyd Mayweather, they thought Floyd Mayweather was old enough to get beat and it didn’t work.
And so those are the type of things on his resume that I want people to understand. Like bro, his blueprint is clear to see time and time and over and over again. But it’s not about Canelo, it’s about Demetrius Andrade and everybody else fighting each other to show and demand that, listen, yeah Canelo is not the guy that can only bring butts to seats and put entertaining together. We can too!”
Sadly, despite the solid validity of his arguments and grievances, little for Andrade is likely to change. With his enviable position as the ‘face of boxing’, Alvarez does not have to bother himself with a Boo Boo dustup. Likewise, given his far less influential position, Andrade does not have the political muscle or public presence to force a fight.
So, as he said himself, all the WBO champion can do is resolve himself to fighting everybody around Canelo. Hopefully, if he topples all the remaining opposition in grand fashion, perhaps then he can secure the elusive fight. Yet, it is a pretty safe bet that Andrade is not holding his breath waiting for that to happen!
By: Bakari Simpson
