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The back and forth battles between Demetrius Andrade and Jermall Charlo continue in every way imaginable but the most fitting format—boxing in the ring.
The latest installment of verbal jabs took place Monday on promoter Eddie Hearn’s Instagram feed during a live conversation in which WBO middleweight champion Andrade (29-0, 18 KOs) told WBC middleweight champion Charlo (30-0, 22 KOs) to stop talking about it, and just be about it.
“Seven million! C’mon man! That's a lot of money!” Andrade told Hearn, referencing the sum that was offered to Charlo so that a fight could take place. “Supposedly he says that he’s the best. I say that I'm the best, and I'm willing to put that in action. It has to be the other way around too. All I can do is keep winning and take the challenges.”
“Boo Boo” said a lot of boxers are making business decisions to avoid him because they perceive him as the boogeyman, and a loss against him would diminish their stock value.
Charlo was offered a one-fight deal by Hearn in December to fight Andrade on DAZN and unify the division's titles but ultimately decided to turn it down.
“You have to look at it as a business,” said Andrade. “Win, lose or draw, [fighting me is] going to kill their cha-cha-cha-ing! Some people lose, and their contract goes down a number. Why are they going to take the risk of fighting Andrade if there is a possible chance of them losing and having to start all over again. If you’re good, if you’re Canelo Alvarez, Gennadiy Golovkin, Billy Joe Saunders or the Charlo brothers, and if you lose to the better man in me, and you continue to show your own legacy, you can still be a Hall of Fame guy. You just lost to the greatest guy. That’s how I look at it. I want to put my skill, talent and willingness against anybody.”
Hearn outlined a plan in which Andrade would next fight WBO mandatory challenger Liam Williams before securing a showdown with Saunders.
Andrade is coming off a one-sided, ninth round TKO win over Luke Keeler in January.
Manouk Akopyan is a sports journalist and member of the Boxing Writers Assn. of America since 2011. He has written for the likes of the LA Times, Guardian, USA Today, Philadelphia Inquirer, Men’s Health and NFL.com and currently does TV commentary for combat sports programming that airs on Fox Sports and hosts his own radio show in Los Angeles. He can be reached on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube at @ManoukAkopyan or via email at manouk[dot]akopyan[at]gmail.com.