Demetrius Andrade Relinquishes His WBO Middleweight Belt
FightersTalkTV.com – After four years as the WBO middleweight champion, Demetrius Andrade has officially vacated the belt. He will now be moving up to 168 in hopes of positioning himself for a big money payday against undisputed champion Canelo Alvarez. It makes interim Janibek Alimkhanuly has been moved up to the new champ.
It doesn’t come as a complete surprise that the American Andrade has chosen to vacate his WBO 160lb belt, as he never seemed excited about the prospect of fighting the unbeaten 2016 Olympian Janibek (12-0, 8 KOs) from the get-go, as that would have been a very grueling fight at this stage of his 14-year professional career.
Liam Williams
Demetrius Andrade retains WBO middleweight title when fight against Liam Williams in April 2021.
Andrade is more focused on trying to force a title shot against four-belt super middleweight champion Canelo because there’s a heck of a lot more dough for him to make in a fight against the Mexican star.
The Rhode Island native Andrade captured his WBO title in October 2018, beating Walter Kautondokwa 12 round unanimous decision. In the for years that Demetrius held onto the WBO belt, he successfully defended it five times against lesser opposition.
Andrade had hoped when he moved up to 168 that he would be able to use his WBO belt to get well-paying fights against Canelo, Gennady Golovkin, and Jermal Charlo. Unfortunately for him, none of those fighters showed any interest in fighting him, which isn’t surprising given that he’s a crafty southpaw with excellent power and size.
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Andrade hopes could fight againts Jermal Charlo or Canelo Alvarez in 168lb.
The only noteable fighter that would be willing to fight him ata 168 is David Benavidez, and that’s not a good match-up for Demetrius. Benavidez is too young, strong, and big for the aging Andrade.
If Andrade sticks it out at 168, the best he could hope for fight is against Benavidez, John Ryder, Edgar Berlanga, Caleb Plant, and Anthony Dirrel. Some of those guys likely won’t want to mix it up with Andrade because of his slick fighting style and power.
It’s difficult to imagine Caleb Plant agreeing to fight Andrade because he’s trying to get a rematch with Canelo, and he doesn’t want to lose again.
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