By Keith Idec
Assuming all goes well in his full-fledged middleweight debut next week, Demetrius Andrade would love to challenge Gennady Golovkin in his following fight.
The undefeated southpaw doubts Golovkin would be willing to do that, though. Andrade expects Golovkin to avoid any risks before getting into the ring with Canelo Alvarez again because their middleweight championship rematch is without question the biggest payday available to Golovkin.
“I don’t think that’s something they would wanna do, just because they wanna fight Canelo again,” Andrade told BoxingScene.com. “If we fight and I beat him, then there’s no more Triple-G and Canelo fight. But I wish that happens. I hope that happens. You know what I’m saying? I hope Triple-G finds the balls to fight Demetrius Andrade in his next fight, in the beginning of next year. That’d be great. I would take it. Go ask him that question.”
Kazakhstan’s Golovkin (37-0-1, 33 KOs) and Mexico’s Alvarez (49-1-1, 34 KOs) fought to a 12-round draw in one of the biggest fights of this year September 16 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. They’re not contractually obligated to take an immediate rematch, but they could fight again when Alvarez returns to the ring May 5.
Golovkin, 35, has expressed interest in boxing once against another opponent before Alvarez returns to the ring that night. Facing a tall, skilled southpaw such as Andrade might not make the most sense for Golovkin, but the 29-year-old Andrade is hopeful he can land meaningful middleweight fights next year.
Most of the sport’s top middleweights either have exclusive contracts to fight on HBO or regularly appear on the network. Those fighters include Alvarez, Golovkin, and former champions Daniel Jacobs (32-2, 29 KOs) and David Lemieux (38-3, 33 KOs).
Andrade agreed recently to a three-fight deal to have his bouts broadcast by HBO. The first fight of that agreement will take place October 21, when Andrade (24-0, 16 KOs) will face Alantez Fox (23-0-1, 11 KOs) in a 10-round fight that’ll open a “Boxing After Dark” telecast from Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona, New York.
If Andrade wins, the Providence, Rhode Island, native is open to boxing any of the aforementioned middleweights early next year.
“That’s definitely the path I could go towards and them fights should be made,” Andrade said. “Those are the popular fighters in the 160-pound weight division. I’m looking to be the best and so I wanna put my talents against the best. I don’t feel like they’re the best superstars out there. I feel that’s me, so I’m willing to put my talents to the test against them. If they’re willing to do the same is the question.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
