World ranked Jr. Middleweight Demetrius Andrade is now eying a world title opportunity after his impressive performance this past Friday night as he scored a shutout unanimous decision over former world title challenger Freddy Hernandez on SHOBOX: The New Generation.
In the bout against Hernandez, Andrade was nearly flawless as he switched between orthodox and southpaw and Hernandez had no answer for any of the great skills that Andrade possessed.
In round six, Andrade pivoted beautifully and landed a hard right to the top of the head that sent Hernandez to the canvas. From that point on, Andrade showed the impressive arsenal that made him go from 2007 world amateur champion, 2008 U.S. Olympian and now top three world ranked contender.
Andrade won by shutout scores of 100-89 on all three judges score cards.
“That was the kind of performance that any fighter would want to have just before a title shot”, said Arthur Pelullo, CEO of Banner Promotions.
“Demetrius is clearly clicking on all cylinders now. He’s twenty-four years old and now is putting everything together at the right time. He has always been one of the most skilled fighters out there and all he needed was the experience. My partners Joe DeGuardia, Darren Libonati and I have him in position for a title shot. We will hope to fight the WBO champion Zaurbek Baysangurov this spring and we are already putting the wheels in motion for that shot”.
With the win, the native of Providence, Rhode Island upped his perfect mark to 19-0 with 13 knockouts.
So it looks like Andrade plans on sticking around at junior middleweight at least long enough to pick up a title strap, and then probably look to see if there are any big fight opportunities available in the fall with the division’s big names, such as Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, and Miguel Cotto. After that though, expect Andrade to make a hasty move up to the middleweight division.
