By Steve Kim
With his twelfth round stoppage of Willie Nelson on June 11th, Demetrius Andrade (23-0, 16KOs) re-established himself as a player once again in the junior middleweight division.
The former WBO belt-holder is currently the top rated contender under the WBC. The current WBC champion is undefeated Jermell Charlo, who has to make a mandatory title defense against Charles Hatley.
Andrade was stripped of the WBO title for inactivity. And the vacant belt was captured last year by Liam Smith, who defends that title against Mexican superstar Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez on September 17th.
Andrade's return in June was televised by Showtime and the upcoming contest will be carried by the network as well.
As for his next move, Artie Pelullo - who co-promotes him with Joe Deguardia - told BoxingScene.com,"Demetrius is going to be back in the ring in October. Stephen Espinoza (the head of Showtime Sports) has made a commitment that he's in the Demetrius Andrade business and we're trying to get him for one of the titles now. It may have to wait a little bit because things have to play out."
Other 154-pound belt-holders such as Erislandy Lara (WBA) and Jermall Charlo (IBF) have associations with Showtime, which makes Pelullo hopeful that these match-ups can eventually take place.
Regardless, in terms of Andrade's immediate future, Pelullo states,"He's still fighting on October and it's going to be on 'Showtime Championship Boxing'".
Steve Kim is the news editor for BoxingScene.com.
