It’s a never-ending story… World champion Demetrius Andrade has long asked for a chance against big names like Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin, but his challenges have fallen on deaf ears.
Undefeated in 29 fights with a title belt at super welterweight and his current World Boxing Organization middleweight belt, Andrade has seen other fighters with less impressive credentials have their chance against these big names.
Take for example Alvarez’ comments about Andrade as he prepared to face Russia’s Sergei Kovalev for the light heavyweight title, to understand Andrade’s frustration.
“The truth is that he has not fought with anyone, and he is also boring, very boring,” Alvarez said. “Maybe he’s a good fighter, but he’s a boring one, and at the end of the day, when there’s a boring fight, people are going to blame me. I like fights where there is action, where people can enjoy a good show. That is very important to me. But he doesn’t represent a challenge for me either, because he hasn’t fought anyone.”
The truth is that Andrade does not have the recognition of other world champions at the 160 lbs. division and doesn’t have a big win in his record that raised eyebrows. However, the 32-year-old American fighter might be the most skilled and difficult middleweight in the division.
He is not an attraction, but being an elusive southpaw also represents a headache for any boxer, and especially for Álvarez, who had a rough time against Cuban Erislandy Lara in 2014, early in the Mexican fighter career, in the super middleweight division.
Andrade (29-0, 18 KOs) has no choice but to keep fighting, winning and dreaming of that elusive opportunity. On April 17, he defended his title for the fourth time against Liam Williams (23-2-1, 18 KOs) in Florida, winning a unanimous decision in a clash which saw the challenger dropped in the second round.
On a recent interview, Andrade was brutally honest at not having a chance to fight the big names in the division. He said he’s ready to move up one division and challenge the Alvarez-Billie Joe Saunders winner. Both will meet in May to unify titles at 168 pounds.
“That’s what I’m working on, to fight Billy Joe Saunders,” said Andrade to DAZN’s Chris Mannix. “They used my name as a hook to secure the Canelo fight. Now if Canelo wins or Billy Joe wins the fight, he could still do that, but there are other belts at 168 pounds.”