Andrade to Fight Peter Manfredo Jr
Finally, in the midst of the endless parade of cancelled fights and events due to COVID-19, we have a fight announcement. Unfortunately, that fight being announced is WBO world middleweight champion Demetrius “Boo Boo” Andrade (29-0, 18 KO’s) versus Peter “The Pride of Providence” Manfredo Jr (42-7-1, 23 KO’s).
The two will tentatively fight this summer provided that the current global pandemic has been brought under control.
DUSTING OFF SOME OLDIES
Over the last couple of weeks Andrade has consistently vocalized his desire to fight with the bigger names in the division. More specifically, Boo Boo has forcefully called for bouts with WBA super world middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (53-1-2, 36 KO’s) and Jermall “Hit Man” Charlo (30-0, 22 KO’s). Despite his efforts, these assignments have vexingly gone unrealized.
While there were few who thought Andrade would score the Canelo or Charlo bouts, the Pride of Providence is still something of a severe let down. To begin, the 39 year old Manfredo is not even amongst the WBO’s own top fifteen rankings. In 2019, Junior fought two weathered journeymen two weeks apart. Yet before those pair of dust-ups, Manfredo Jr hadn’t fought since 2016. Prior to that single bout in 2016, the former Contender show contestant was inactive for almost another three years.
LEAVES ROOM FOR DESIRE
Andrade first posted a teaser tweet hinting that he had big news coming. Then roughly an hour, later he announced his pending summer bout with Manfredo. The last three marquee names that Junior faced were Julio Chavez Jr (2011), Sakio Bika (2008) and Jeff “Left Hook” Lacy (2007). Manfredo lost all three of these fights and two of them by way of stoppage.
It’s no secret that Andrade has largely been unsuccessful in obtaining the premiere name fights that he is seeking. This is despite entering into the Matchroom Promotion stable to get a shot at fighters such as Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin. However, his closer proximity to these boxers hasn’t helped him get one inch closer to those career milestones. Sadly a dust-up with the former Contender show contestant will not do anything to get him any closer either.
BUT COULD THIS BE AN APRIL FOOLS JOKE!
By: Bakari Simpson
