Will Demetrius Andrade Ever Get the Big-Money Fight?
WBO World Middleweight champion Demetrius Andrade (30-0, 18 KOs) is a man long in search of a big-money fight. He is a two-division world champion and as skilled as anyone. Throughout his career, the 32-year-old from Providence, Rhode Island has been unable to secure a match against the elite fighters from 154-168 pounds. The big names he wants to face are WBC World 160-pound champion Jermall Charlo, IBF World Middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin, and unified WBA ‘Super ’/WBC World 168-pound champion Gennady Golovkin.
Following his April 17 win over Liam Williams to successfully retain the WBO title, Andrade expressed his frustration with his inability to land the big fights he desires. In his mind, the other world champions do not want to fight him.
Andrade is promoted by Eddie Hearn, CEO of Matchroom Boxing. Hearn spoke to iFL TV following Andrade’s win over Williams and gave his opinion on what he would like to see for the Rhode Islander.
“If you’re a champion, I just feel like you should be looking to fight the champions. Gennady Golovkin is talking about a fight with (WBA ‘super’ world middleweight champion) Ryota Murata on December 31. Do this one in the summer. Unify, then unify again, and maybe an undisputed fight with Charlo next.
Or Charlo, get rid of that Montiel fight. Fight Demetrius in the summer. It’s a big pay-per-view on your platform. Two brilliant American world champions, that’s what we should be getting.
I really don’t get it. I’m hoping they would have watched that and go oh, he’s beatable.”
HIGH RISK/LOW REWARD
However, here is the main issue with Andrade. Charlo, Golovkin, and Alvarez do not see themselves making good money fighting him. If you are going to put your title on the line against someone who would give you a very tough night, you want to get paid and paid well. Because of this, Eddie Hearn admitted that promoting Andrade is not the easiest of jobs.
“Yeah, it is my job and it’s very difficult. It’s probably the hardest fighter I’ve ever had to match for. But I’m hoping people might have looked at that and gone OK, he’s really good and he starts well. He’s slippery, he’s awkward, he’s clever.
But he got a bit hurt, he looked a bit tired, he’s beatable. So, I’m going to try and beat him.”
Whether Andrade ever gets that opportunity is a serious question. No matter how hard Hearn works behind the scenes, is the fighter known as “Boo Boo” being purposely frozen out?
Mike McCallum was a terrific former 154 and 160 pound world champion in the 1980s and early 1990s. As good as he was, McCallum never landed the big fight against the greats during his era, Ray Leonard, Marvin Hagler, Thomas Hearns, and Roberto Duran.
In 2021 we could be witnessing Demetrius Andrade becoming the Mike McCallum of our day. What a shame that would be.
By: Michael Wilson Jr.
