Demetrius Andrade (27-0, 17 KOs) successfully defended his WBO Middleweight belt on Friday, January 19, 2019 against Artur Akavov (16-3, 8 KOs) and did so impressive fashion.
Andrade was facing an over matched opponent tonight. It’s always hard to gain any respect when facing an opponent like that. However, Andrade did what no one else has ever done which is stop the Russian contender.
That’s saying a lot seeing that he had once shared the ring with former Middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders.
The fight began with Andrade setting the pace with a consistent jab which in turn made it extremely difficult for the challenger to come in and attack the way he normally does. Every round began to look the exact same as Andrade would continually place his jab in his opponents face.
“I had that jab in his face all night,” said Andrade during the post fight press conference. “He must have a headache right now.”
Not only was Akavov eating jabs all night, but he also was on the receiving end of a lot of combinations as well. The challenger was game and didn’t give up. He just had little-to-no answers for what the champion was doing.
Andrade explained the game plan and why it was so effective tonight.
“We wanted to display the jab and movement. Going to the body and slowing him down,” said Andrade. “He is a tough fighter, he came in here to win and do what he had to do but we just outboxed him. That shit was beautiful.”
Let’s be clear.
Andrade looked awesome, but fans want to see his level of opposition increase tenfold. For Andrade, he made it clear that it does not matter who you place in front of him, including former unified Middleweight champion GGG.
“At the end of the day, you put GGG in front of me and I am going to destroy him.”
As far as facing the big-name stars, Andrade believes his main focus should be on the opponents placed in front of him. Taking care of business will force the top dogs at Middleweight to face him at some point.
“I mean, all I can do is just keep destroying the top 15,” said Andrade. “After I keep destroying the top 15, they have nobody else but GGG, Canelo, Danny Jacobs and all those great guys up there. That’s all we’re looking to do, make great fights, baby. That’s it and may the best man win.”
It looks like Andrade is done calling out the top guys and waiting for them to reply. He is now focused on just being active and hoping that the big fights will eventually land is his lap.
If he keeps mowing through the competition than nobody else will be able to deny him anymore.
