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Demetrius Andrade arrived at a point in his career where he simply needed to cut his losses, says his promoter Eddie Hearn.
Andrade, the skilled southpaw and longtime middleweight titleholder from Rhode Island, has had so far a perplexing and lukewarm stint in the professional ranks, stemming mainly from the fact that he has been unable to entice the top fighters of his division, such as fellow titleholders Jermall Charlo (WBC) and Gennadiy Golovkin (IBF), to join him inside the ring. Upon winning the WBO middleweight belt over Walter Kautondowka in 2018, Andrade has defended it five straight times, in dominant fashion, against mostly subpar opposition. For all the success he has garnered thus far, Andrade cannot be said to have ever captured the imagination of the boxing public. Andrade’s last bout was an outright mismatch: a second-round stoppage of Ireland’s Jason Quigley on Nov. 19 at SNHU Arena in Manchester, New Hampshire.
Now there are reports that instead of facing WBO mandatory challenger Janibek Alimkhanuly of Kazakhstan, Andrade intends to ply his trade – and try his luck – eight pounds north in the super middleweight division. Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix reported that Andrade is looking to face England’s Zach Parker in an eliminator in which the winner would become the mandatory for undisputed 168-pound champion Canelo Alvarez.
Hearn acknowledged that given Andrade’s frustrating spell at middleweight, it was high time for a change.
“We’ve gotta do something, right?” Hearn told BoxingScene.com at a press conference in New York City to announce the women’s 135-pound title unification bout between Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano. “We can’t just keep taking [low level] fights.”
Hearn, whose Matchroom Boxing has an exclusive output deal with streaming platform DAZN, says a significant reason why Andrade is moving up in weight is that there is little appetite from his broadcasting partners to see Andrade swap punches against yet another middling foe.
“From a broadcaster’s point of view, all of a sudden it’s like, ‘Do you want the Janibek fight?’” Hearn said. “No, not really.”
On the other hand, it is not clear how successful Andrade will be at super middleweight in attracting top-shelf opposition. Many of the elite super middleweights are aligned with rival entities, like former 168-pound titlists David Benavidez and Caleb Plant, both of whom are under the banner of Premier Boxing Champions.
Hearn noted that the 33-year-old Andrade (31-0, 19KOs), a former titleholder at 154, may have to move up in weight out of physical necessity.
“He’s struggling to make 160,” Hearn said. “We’ve got to try and make something happen.”
It is not clear if Andrade would have to vacate his WBO middleweight title immediately in the event that he does move up to 168.