Former two-weight world champion Demetrius ‘Boo Boo’ Andrade 31-0 (19) is adamant that he should be facing WBC middleweight champion Jermall ‘Hit Man’ Charlo 32-0 (22) after his fight against Demond Nicholson 26-4-1 (22) at the Capital One Arena, Washington DC on Saturday night.
The Nicholson fight will be one of the support bouts on the Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis vs Hector Luis Garcia pay-per-view card on Showtime.
Despite winning his first world title almost 10 years ago, Andrade has failed to land any meaningful fight and had largely defended his WBO junior middleweight and middleweight belts against a series of second stringers in his five title defences.
The 34-year-old Rhode Island southpaw is desperate to change that and he sees that opportunity in the undefeated Charlo.
“My preferred preference – and I’m always gonna keep saying it because there’s no more network shit – win, lose or draw, [is] Jermall Charlo, bro,” Andrade said. “That’s all I’m here for. At the end of the day, that’s what I’m here for.
“I got a left hand for him, so we can set that up.”
Andrade will be having his first fight back on Showtime since his 12th round knockout of Willie Nelson seven years ago.
“I believe this network I am on now is going to be able to provide that. I was with HBO, I was with Showtime a long time ago when I fought Willie Nelson. I was with DAZN. They had the names for me, they tried to make things work but it didn’t happen,” Andrade said.
“I’m back here and I’m looking to make those fights happen. I believe the team at Showtime can make that happen and that’s what I’m here to do.”
While Andrade is facing fringe contender Nicholson, who is ranked number seven by the WBA at super middleweight, he had some choice words for undisputed 168-pound champion Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez 58-2-2 (39), who is expect to face WBO interim titleholder John ‘The Gorilla’ Ryder 32-5 (18) in May, possibly in the UK.
“Just more bullshit, bro. That’s just what it is, just another easy fight,” Andrade said to Thaboxingvoice. “Another situation for him to go in and say ‘I’m fighting the best’ but come on, he’s not the best.”
Andrade was kicked out of the post-fight press conference following Alvarez’s victory over Billy Joe Saunders in 2021.
“Nah, I did my thing. I did my Rocky Balboa shit. I’m not going to rely on chasing down Canelo when Canelo don’t want to do it. He’d rather fight John Ryder,” said Andrade.
“I know the truth. You can’t even ask Canelo questions because you can’t have interviews with him. You can’t give him real backlash because you’ll never speak to him. I understand. It’s a business for everybody.
“Everybody wants conversations with people, but if you mention Demetrius Andrade, there’s no conversation. There’s no questions.
“Of course, he’s the worst of options when you have Jermall Charlo, when you have Demetrius Andrade, when you’ve got the rematch with [Dimitry] Bivol, when you’ve got other champions [David Morrell] in the same weight class as him.”
