The two primary content providers for sports streaming service DAZN are called to negotiate a middleweight title fight.
It’s not the one that everyone expected but at the very least provides traffic for the loaded division. The World Boxing Organization (WBO) has ordered a bout between reigning unbeaten middleweight titlist Demetrius Andrade (28-0, 17KOs) and mandatory challenger Steven Butler (28-1-1, 24KOs). Both camps were notified of the order on Wednesday and have been given 30 days to negotiate terms for the fight or else be subject to a purse bid hearing.
Andrade is represented by Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing USA and manager Ed Farris, while negotiating on Butler’s behalf are Golden Boy Promotions and Camille Estephan’s Eye of the Tiger Management.
Matchroom and Golden Boy control the majority of fight dates on DAZN, which has now entered its second year in boxing and in the U.S. market. The two leading promotional outfits have done plenty of business together through the years, even if not always on amicable terms. As it relates to this event, both sides seem ready to see where this one heads.
“I’m interested in talking to Eddie Hearn,” Eric Gomez, president of Golden Boy Promotions told BoxingScene.com on Thursday, shortly after news of the ordered title fight was made public.
Andrade (28-0, 17KOs) has made two defenses of the title he claimed in a wide points win over previously unbeaten Walter Kautondokwa last October in Boston, Mass. His most recent effort came in the form of a 12-round shutout over Poland’s Maciej Sulecki this past June at home in Providence, Rhode Island.
The bout marked the first true homecoming for the 2008 U.S. Olympian and unbeaten two-division titlist. It was also his third fight in the span of eight months, providing much needed activity and visibility in a pro career sorely lacking both.
One of the motivating factors at the time of the Sulecki fight was that the win would lead to a superfight with World (lineal) middleweight champion Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez or former unified titlist Gennadiy Golovkin. Both have opted to head in separate directions—from Andrade as well as each other, as a third fight between the two remains more wish list than reality.
Alvarez (52-1-2, 35KOs) will face three-time and reigning light heavyweight titlist Sergey Kovalev in November, while Golovkin (39-1-1, 35KOs) will challenge Ukraine’s Sergiy Derevyanchenko (13-1, 10KOs) for a vacant middleweight title this weekend in New York City.
That leaves Andrade to face whomever is left in the room.
“We agreed to fight (Alvarez) twice when asked,” Farris pointed out to BoxingScene.com in the efforts to land Andrade in a superfight. “His team is so worried about Demetrius, that they decide to move up two weight classes to fight someone else instead?
“What can we do? Except keep getting him in the ring and winning.”
That would presumably lead to a mandatory defense versus Butler, a streaking contender from Montreal, Canada who has won his last 10 outings. The 24-year old is coming off of a 1st round knockout of Paul Valenzuela Jr. in a stay-busy fight this past September at home in Montreal. The win was preceded by his lone stateside appearance to date, a 10-round decision over Vitalii Kopylenko this past May in an event promoted by Golden Boy Promotions.
The bout wasn’t a final eliminator, although Butler was named shortly thereafter as the mandatory challenger to Andrade’s title.
“Let’s see if we can get something done,” notes Gomez. “It’s a good fight!”
A purse bid hearing has been set aside for early November in the event that the two sides cannot come to terms. A minimum bid of $200,000—complete with a 10% deposit along with confirmed date and location to stage the event—must be presented in order to secure promotional rights. Either party can call for a purse bid at any point during the 30-day free negotiation period.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox
