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Frank Warren has claimed another significant fight through a purse bid hearing
The Hall of Fame promoter’s Queensberry Promotions secured the promotional rights to the interim WBO super middleweight title fight between Providence’s Andrade and England’s Zach Parker. An offer of $1,834,050 was submitted by Queensberry, the highest bidder during a purse bid hearing held Thursday at WBO headquarters in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Queensberry once again outbid Matchroom Boxing, Andrade’s USA promoter who offered $1,750,000. The feat marks the second time in less than a month that Warren has trumped domestic promotional rival Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing in a purse bid, having won promotional rights for the WBC/lineal heavyweight championship between Tyson Fury and Dillian Whyte during a January 28 purse bid hearing.
Parker fights under the Queensberry Promotions banner, while Andrade is represented by Matchroom Boxing.
Per WBO terms, Queensberry is required to submit a 20% deposit of the aforementioned total to validate the purse bid terms. The targeted time frame for the fight is May 21, either in London or Birmingham, England. The latter location puts the fight barely an hour from Parker’s hometown of Woodville, Derbyshire. Andrade is entitled to 65% of the purse bid amount ($1,192,132.50), with Parker receiving the remaining 35% ($641,917.50).
It will also mean the second career fight outside the U.S. for Andrade (31-0, 19KOs), who chose to pursue this fight in lieu of a mandatory defense of the WBO middleweight title he has held since October 2018. His lone other fight abroad came in a March 2017 split decision win over Jack Culcay to claim the WBA junior middleweight title in Ludwigshafen, Germany.
Andrade was previously ordered to next face Kazakhstan’s Janibek Alimkhanuly (11-0, 7KOs), who has accepted an invitation by the WBO to instead challenge for the interim middleweight title and is currently in talks with Tijuana’s Jaime Munguia (39-0, 31KOs) for such a fight. The idea behind both fights is that the WBO interim middleweight titlist will either receive a straightaway shot at Andrade or an upgrade to full titlist should the 33-year-old southpaw decide to not return to the middleweight division.
The path to securing a fight with Parker (22-0, 16KOs) has been messy. Andrade and Matchroom initially floated the proposal to the WBO shortly after the sanctioning body ordered Andrade-Alimkhanuly last November 30. The sanctioning was willing to consider the interim super middleweight title fight since its full title claimant, undisputed WBA/WBC/IBF/WBO champ Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez (57-1-2, 39KOs) was exploring fights outside the weight for his yet-to-be-announced next fight.
Too much time had elapsed, prompting the WBO to call for a purse bid hearing to determine promotional rights for the ordered middleweight title fight. The session was delayed several times, often enough for Andrade-Parker to be put back into play. The concessions made by Andrade was enough to convince the WBO to bless the interim super middleweight title fight, along with ordering a similar fight at middleweight.
Parker has held the number-one spot in the WBO super middleweight rankings since November 2020, only after Alvarez committed to a fight with Callum Smith for the WBA “Super” and vacant WBC title. Alvarez was permitted to jump the line as a WBO Super champion, despite Parker having previously won a sanctioned title eliminator in a March 2020 11th round knockout of Rohan Murdock.
Parker has since won three fights, including a fourth-round stoppage of Marcus Morrison last November 6 in Birmingham, England. The win came less than two weeks prior to Andrade’s fifth and most recent WBO middleweight title defense, a second-round knockout of Ireland’s Jason Quigley last November 19 in Manchester, New Hampshire. The 27-year-old Brit will now have a regional advantage for the biggest fight of his career to date, thanks to his promoter stepping up when it mattered the most.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox