By Lem Satterfield

Demetrius Andrade believes Canelo Alvarez waited for him to be stripped of his WBO junior middleweight title in August 2015, stopped Liam Smith for the vacant crown in September 2016, and immediately avoided him by relinquishing for a rise into the 160-pound division, the undefeated southpaw told BoxingScene.com last month.

“I have a question for Canel Alvarez: Why did you wait until I got stripped from it for inactivity?” said Andrade, 30. “Why didn’t you fight Demetrius Andrade when I had the [154-pound] belt, back then?”

Currently middleweight champions, the 5-foot-8 Alvarez and the 6-foot-1 Andrade are signed with DAZN's streaming service, the former being the WBA/ WBC titlist, and the latter, the WBO.

The 28-year-old Alvarez (50-1-2, 34 KOs) dethroned Gennady Golovkin (38-1-1, 34 KOs) for his titles by majority decision in September’s rematch of their draw in September 2017, and will pursue a third crown in as many divisions on December 15 against WBA “regular” 168-pound Rocky Fielding (27-1, 15 KOs) while retaining his 160-pound championships.

Andrade (26-0, 16 KOs) is coming off October’s four-knockdown unanimous decision for the vacant crown over previously unbeaten Walter Kautondkwo (17-1, 16 KOs), whose run of 16 consecutive stoppages ended as did Andrade’s 366-day ring absence since rising from a seventh-round knockdown for a unanimous decision over previously undefeated 6-foot-5 Alantez Fox in his 160-pound debut.

Each was a 154-pounder in 2015, when Alvarez owned unanimous- and split-decisions over left-handed former titleholders Austin Trout (April 2013) and Erislandy Lara (July 2014). Alvarez’s unanimous decision over four-division champion Miguel Cotto (November 2015) earned the WBC crown, which he defended by fourth-round stoppage of former 147-pound titleholder Amir Khan (May 2016).

In November 2013, Andrade won the WBO version by rising from a first-round knockdown for a split-decision over Vanes Martirosyan and defended it via seventh-round TKO of Brian Rose (June 2014).

But Andrade was stripped after 14 months of inactivity, he and his co-promoters having been warned by the WBO that they had passed its nine-month inactivity limit.

Alvarez defeated Smith for the vacant crown then vacated for a rise into the middleweight division and a unanimous decision over former titleholder Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. in May 2017 before twice facing Golovkin.

Andrade’s been approved for a voluntary defense in January, in accordance with WBO rules and president Paco Valcarcel, but after that, he desires a unification with Alvarez in if he defeats Fielding and returns to 160.

“Canelo’s  a tough kid, he’s smart, and he just fought Triple-G twice even though I felt like Triple-G won the second fight. But if he comes forward like he did against Triple-G and stands in there with me the same way, it’s gonna be a problem for him. My style and my fight game is better than Trout’s and Lara’s,” said Andrade.

“Our fight could go four rounds, seven rounds or 12 rounds, but either way, I’m gonna whup dat ass. It’s gonna be a rude awakening when he gets in there and realizes, ‘Well, damn, what the f*** can I do with this guy? We’re looking to do our voluntary, and then, from there, we’ll see who our mandatory is gonna be. But Canelo can’t mention the 160-pound division and not bring my name come up.”