Via Robert Segal: Demetrius Andrade reportedly chose not to fight heavyweight Zach Parker for the interim WBO super-middleweight title.
Former two-division world champion ‘Boo Boo’ Andrade (31-0, 19 KOs) and undefeated Parker (22-0, 16 KOs) will battle for the interim WBO belt to become a must for the champion. enemy Canelo Alvarez.
Queensbury Promotion won an auction between Andrade and Parker with a winning bid of $305,000. The deadline to commit to the fight was on Wednesday, and Andrade, 34, chose to drop out of the competition.
With the hard work involved with Andrade and the little money at stake, it’s no surprise that he chose not to take it. Parker will be a tough adversary for Andrade at this stage in his career, and it’s unlikely a win will guarantee him a title against Canelo Alvarez.
The Mexican star has never shown any interest in fighting deft defensive artist Andrade, and that probably won’t change, no matter who he beats. Fighting Parker for little money would be a dead end for Andrade, yielding nothing.
John Ryder (31-5, 17 KOs) is next to face Zach Parker for the interim 168-lb WBO title.
DISCLAIMER: It has been stated that Demetrius Andrade will NOT undergo a temporary supermiddleweight title fight against Zach Parker. The deadline is Wednesday to commit the fight, which Queensberry claims was the sole bidder ($305,000) of the wallet bid held last week.
– Jake Donovan (@JakeNDaBox) September 27, 2022
If the WBO orders a new interim match or even removes the title, Parker’s compatriot John Ryder is next in line.
– Jake Donovan (@JakeNDaBox) September 27, 2022
For Andrade, this is the second risky opponent he did not choose. He recently vacated his WBO middleweight belt instead of defending it against Janibek Alimkhanuly.
It was a fight that Andrade should have won very well, but the meager amount of money and the hard work involved made it pointless.
Of course, Andrade’s decision to vacate the 160-lb WBO title left him without a bargain for payday. If Andrade holds on to the WBO middleweight title and takes on Janibek, he can continue to make easy money defending the title against a mostly weak opponent.
It is not yet clear which direction Andrade will take. If he chooses the IBF, WBA or WBC route to get a title in 168th place, it will take him a long time to get to the title challenger position. Andrade is not rated by any of those organizations.
The only reason Andrade is currently ranked #1 by the World Boxing Organization is that he used his 160-lb WBO title to move up to the top at 168th. He couldn’t. do it with three other sanctioning bodies in 168th place, and it could take him years to get into a fighting position to claim the belt.
