Light middleweight prospect Demetrius Andrade (2-0, 2 KOs) easily took care of a badly outclassed Eric Marriott (0-2) on Saturday night, stopping him in the 4th round of a scheduled 4-round bout at the Twin River Casino in Lincoln, RI. Andrade punished Marriot with huge shots in the early going, using his superior speed and combinations to riddle Marriott to pieces.
The end came in the 4th after Andrade landed a hard combination to the head that sent Marriott down. Andrade was a member of the 2008 Olympics for U.S, but ended up losing a controversial decision to Korean Kim Jung-Joo.
Johnathon Banks Injured, Out Of Maccarinelli Fight
Enzo Maccarinelli is looking for a new challenger for this Saturday (6 December) at the ExCeL London after Johnathon Banks withdrew with an ankle injury. Banks, who was training in Spain with World Heavyweight Champion brothers Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko, damaged his ankle during a training session and was ruled out by his promoters K2. The hard-hitting Welshman still headlines the show and challenges for his previously held WBO World Cruiserweight title and a new opponent will be announced shortly.
On the undercard Amir Khan takes on Oisin Fagan for the Vacant WBA International Lightweight title, and Audley Harrison faces Martin Rogan over 10 rounds.
De La Hoya-Pacquiao Fight Failing to Attract Fans Interest
This Saturday’s mega fight between Oscar De La Hoya and super featherweight Oscar De La Hoya is failing to attract a lot of interest from the diehard boxing community, with many fans tuning out for the fight despite their being several De La Hoya-Pacquiao 24/7 showings on HBO in the past couple of weeks.
Part of the problem, it seems, is that De La Hoya is perceived by some fans to be over the hill at 35, and due to his lack of quality wins and several losses on his record in the past five years, he’s not considered to be a top fighter for many of these boxing fans.
Pacquiao, 29, the WBC lightweight champion, has a huge size disadvantage against De La Hoya, and will have to find a way to overcome a substantial five inch height advantage. For many fans, it’s De La Hoya’s choice of a smaller opponent that doesn’t sit right with them.
Fighting three divisions above Pacquiao at light middleweight, De La Hoya is perceived as being much too large for Pacquiao by many boxing fans, making it hard for them to imagine that the Filipino star has much of a chance at winning, even though he’ll be coming into the fight weighing almost the same as De La Hoya.
De La Hoya has been boxing’s biggest star for well over a decade now, but in the past five years, his fights have become fewer and fewer, and in his biggest fights, against Bernard Hopkins, Shane Mosley and Floyd Mayweather Jr., De La Hoya has been beaten. On the flip side, De La Hoya’s wins have come against what many boxing fans feel is soft opponents.