(Photo credit: Tom Casino/Showtime) By Dan Ambrose: Unbeaten junior middleweight contender Demetrius Andrade (18-0, 13 KO’s) will be taking a significant step up in competition tonight in taking on the tough Mexican Freddy Hernandez (30-3, 20 KO’s) in a scheduled 10 round bout on Showtime at the Paramount Theatre, Huntington, New York, USA.
This fight will mark the first time that the 24-year-old Andrade has fought under the guidance of new trainer Virgil Hunter, so it should be interesting to see what changes Hunter has made, if any, with Andrade’s game. Hunter says he’s only had 10 weeks to work with the 6’1” southpaw Andrade, #3 IBF, #3 WBO, #8 WBC, #13 WBA, and that’s probably not enough time to see any real major changes to his game.
Andrade fought for the U.S Olympic team in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China. He’s looked good for the most part since turning pro in 2008. However, he has a habit of leaving himself open when he throws his shots and he sometimes gets hit a lot. Andrade hasn’t faced anyone that you could call dangerous or really. His best opposition has been against Grady Brewer and Saul Duran.
In his last fight, he blew out Alexis Hloros in two rounds last September. Andrade has got the size, power, speed and skills to become a champion at 154. I don’t think he’s in the same league as Saul “Canelo”Alvarez and Austin Trout, though, but he’s pretty close. Andrade is probably good enough to take 154 pound champions Cornelius Bundrage and Zaurbek Baysangurov if given the chance, as long as he doesn’t walk into something big.
Hernandez, 33, has lost two out of his last three fights, suffering losses to Andre Berto and Erislandy Lara. In between the losses to Berto and Lara, Hernandez defeated Luis Collazo by a fairly one-sided 10 round unanimous decision. That victory showed that Hernandez has got some good skills and he can be a problem for anyone in the division if they’re not on their ‘A’ game. Hernandez has wins over DeMarcus Corley and Damian Frias.
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