Andrade Ready To Prove Himself Against The Best
Over his career, Demetrius Andrade has been craving for some competition. The WBO Middleweight Champion has been fighting professionally since 2008, and has just recently stepped it up . “Boo Boo”, however, wants more.
On the latest Instagram Live discussion with Eddie Hearn, Andrade (29-0) put himself out there as the man to beat. A gold medalist in the World Championships, Andrade has called out fighters like Canelo Alvarez, Gennadiy Golovkin, Billy Joe Saunders and Jermall Charlo. Andrade believes that it is a dangerous thing for him to be overlooked, and offers words of encouragement for fighting him.
“If you’re good and you lose to the better man, like Demetrius Andrade, you’re still gonna be a Hall of Fame guy, you can still be a top guy, you just lost to the best guy,” he stated, via Bad Left Hook. “That’s how I look at it. I’m willing to put my skill and talent against anybody in the middleweight division.”
Andrade was originally supposed to face Saunders, but a failed drug test by the latter stopped that from happening. One of the top reasons for Andrade being overlooked is a result of those seeing a lack of exciting fights. He has been vocal in saying that if he can’t get the Canelo’s or the Golovkin’s of the world he is willing to fight the guys they have faced.
A name Hearn has recently brought up is Liam Williams, a 27-year-old on a six-fight win streak. Another name Hearn had in mind was Sergiy Derevyanchenko, a man who has been known to make things interesting. He has brought both Daniel Jacobs and Golovkin to the limit. In the latter fight, many believed Sergiy won. Andrade is very interested in that potential clash.
“I asked for that fight before,” Andrade continued. “I have no problem fighting anybody in my division. I’m fighting whoever is available or whoever is gonna get in with me. I would like to fight the well-known, popular guys out there, but that’s not been the case. If you can get me Derevyanchenko, then yeah.”
Andrade has managed to defend his title three times against Artur Akavov, Maciej Sulecki and Luke Keeler. He wants to stay active and is willing to do whatever it takes to get these fights. His main focus is Charlo, who is the current WBC Middleweight Champion. Andrade does not know why Charlo would deny a $7 million payday, but he is willing to fight for the match and the glory that comes with it.
“Seven million? C’mon man, that’s a lot of money,” Andrade stated. Supposedly, he says he’s the best. I say that I’m the best. I’m willing to put that in action, it has to be the other way around too.”