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MIAMI--Demetrius Andrade has a clear idea of the next opponent he wants.
The unfortunate reality is that he can’t move forward until hearing from the opponent he knows he can’t have.
A one-sided 9th round knockout of Ireland’s Luke Keeler (17-3-1, 5KOs) provided Andrade (28-0, 17KOs) with his latest successful middleweight title defense, topping a January 30 DAZN show from Meridian at Island Gardens in Miami, Florida. The two names he called out immediately after his latest win were fellow 160-pound titlist Jermall Charlo (30-0, 22KOs) and England’s two-division and reigning super middleweight title claimant Billy Joe Saunders (29-0, 14KOs).
The latter has since surfaced as his desired choice, only for the British southpaw to also rank high among the short list of boxers to potentially next face renowned boxing superstar Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez (53-1-2, 36KOs). Given that, it would be foolish for Saunders—or countryman and fellow unbeaten super middleweight titlist Callum Smith (27-0, 19KOs), the other most oft-mentioned candidate–to make any move before a decision is made on who hits the lottery.
“Canelo is the golden ticket,” Eddie Hearn, Andrade’s promoter noted to BoxingScene.com. “It’s like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, just waiting for the golden ticket and for them to say ‘You got it.’
“That’s what we’re doing at the moment.”
It’s a waiting process shared by essentially every other relevant middleweight and super middleweight these days. Alvarez is due to make an announcement soon, with designs on returning to the ring in May and presumably at super middleweight to ease the transition of moving back down from 175 pounds following his light heavyweight title-snatching 11th round knockout of Sergey Kovalev last November,
As an unbeaten titlist, Andrade naturally desires a crack at Mexico’s Alvarez—the World middleweight champion, who also holds a secondary title at super middleweight—or Kazakhstan’s Gennadiy Golovkin (40-1-1, 35KOs), who became a two-time middleweight titlist last October. With the understanding that neither will be available, Andrade aims to avoid another scenario leaving him out of the ring any longer than necessary. His signing with Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing USA came with the intention of remaining active, a run that included three fights in an eight-month span include a long overdue homecoming headliner last June in Providence, Rhode Island.
Ironically, his first fight under contract was to come versus Saunders, still a middleweight titlist at the time of their scheduled October 2018 DAZN headliner in Boston, Massachusetts.
Saunders was scratched from the show and stripped of his title after testing positive for the banned substance Oxilofrine, to which he attributed to a nasal decongestant application. The adverse finding came in what was deemed under World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) code as ‘out-of-competition’, which enabled him to be cleared by the British Boxing Board of Control (BBBoC).
It didn’t fly with the Massachusetts State Athletic Commission, however, denying the British southpaw a boxing license and thus costing him the title. Andrade went on to face then-unbeaten Walter Kautondokwa for the vacant title, winning a landslide decision and with the aforementioned win over Keeler has now lodged three successful defenses.
A fight with Saunders would require Andrade to move up in weight, or at least come at a catchweight. Whatever it takes, it’s old business he’s willing to revisit.
“What can I say, Billy Joe Saunders is the one I want next,” Andrade told BoxingScene.com. “Let’s get that done. Stay away from the nasal spray, no more excuses. Let’s go.”
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox