Demetrius Andrade continues his years’ long pursuit of Canelo Alvarez and Billy Joe Saunders
On May 8, WBA Super and WBC World Super Middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (55-1-2, 37 KO’s) will stage a unification bout with WBO World Super Middleweight champion “Superb” Billy Joe Saunders (30-0, 14 KO’s). Due to the unification aspect, it is a meaningful bout that many fight fans are looking forward to. It is also a fight opportunity that WBO World Middleweight champion Demetrius “Boo Boo” Andrade (30-0, 18 KO’s) has been denied for quite some time.
Andrade has a long, frustrating history of chasing Alvarez since their days at super welterweight. When questioned about why he does not want to face Boo Boo, Canelo delights in saying that he has not fought anyone. This could be interpreted to mean that Andrade does not bring anything to the table. Yet, at one point during their tenure at 154, when the Rhode Island native was the WBO champion, it was Andrade who was vigorously calling out Alvarez. Canelo was his mandatory challenger. So obviously Andrade, who was and is widely recognized as a premium talent, brought a world title to the table.
Regardless of the belt at stake, the redhead chose to sidestep the bout, declaring he had no interest in the trinket. Curiously though, when Andrade was stripped of his title, Canelo Alvarez magically had a sudden desire to possess it. As a result, he fought Liam Smith for Andrade’s old belt after Smith acquired the vacant title. To this day, even during the promotion for his fight with Saunders, Canelo refuses to acknowledge Boo Boo as a meaningful fight option.
HERE TO ANTAGONIZE!
Andrade has been frustrated multiple times attempting to get a fight with Saunders as well. Yet, the situation with Superb is significantly different. To his credit, Saunders was intent on fighting Andrade at once. Nevertheless, on two separate occasions, the Englishman singlehandedly dismantled potential prizefights. In the first instance, the two fighters actually penned a contract to fight. Unfortunately, Superb would get busted for PED’s and this ultimately unraveled the bout.
Saunders would end up not signing up for the fight with Boo Boo a second time. Instead, he opted to leave the division and jump to super middleweight. Andrade has proven unable to either land or actually realize a fight with either man. Still, he remains vigilant in trying to secure them nevertheless. Due to this commitment, he will be in attendance at the upcoming Alvarez v Saunders prizefight. Yet, as he told to Behind the Gloves, it should be no surprise that his main objective was to haze both of the principle characters!
“I haven’t seen too much but I am here to heckle the hell out of everybody and let them know that you can’t run from me too long!”
Even with the animosity, Demetrius Andrade was willing to give credit where it was due.
“And it’s just a great fight. I think it’s a good fight for boxing, for the weight class and the weight division and I am willing to take on either one of those guys.”
It is good to see that Andrade is still on the hunt for these two particular fights. Yet, if history is any indicator, he is still galaxies away from trading leather with either man. Let’s just hope that this overwhelming likelihood does not prove to be true. These are great match-ups that we are missing.
By: Bakari Simpson
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