By Jeff Aranow: Demetrius Andrade (24-0, 16 KOs) outworked WBA World junior middleweight champion Jack Culcay (22-2, 11 KOs) in defeating him by a 12 round split decision on Saturday night to capture his title at the Friedrich-Ebert-Halle, in Ludwigshafen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany. The final judges’ scores were 116-112, 116-112 for Andrade and 115-114 for Culcay.
(Photo credit: Banner Promotions)
There were 5 very close rounds that could have gone either way. It was that kind of a fight. Culcay showed a lot of boxing skills, and did a great job of nullifying the 6’1” Andrade’s huge 6” inch height advantage. Culcay fought well enough to win 2 out of the first 4 rounds. Andrade then pulled away in the second half of the contest by being the busier fighter. Andrade wasn’t big shots. He was just throwing a lot of punches and being busier. Culcay made the mistake of staying on the outside during the crucial 2nd half of the fight.
Andrade was hurt in the 12th round after getting hit with a left hand from Culcay. Andrade was almost out on his feet. Culcay didn’t realize how hurt Andrade was, and he failed to try and finish him off. It was a big mistake on Culcay’s part because Andrade looked like he was ready to be finished off if Culcay had unloaded on him with another big shot. Both fighters had flurried on each other in the 12th, and Culcay got the better of it.
It was not a good performance from the 6’1” Andrade, as he struggled with the speed and the in and out attacks from the quicker 5’7 ½” Culcay all throughout the fight.
Culcay did his best work in rounds 6 through 8, as he outworked Andrade and landed some nice combinations on the inside. Andrade was throwing a lot of long shots from the outside, but his punches were frequently missing their mark.
Andrade came on from round 9, as he started throwing more punches that kept the 31-year-old Culcay busy defending from the outside.
In round 10, Andrade switched stances from southpaw to orthodox for some reason. It’s unclear why he made the change. The only thing one could assume is Andrade injured his left hand, because he mostly threw right hands for the remainder of the fight. In the 11th round, Andrade switched back to southpaw, but he still continued to use his right hand to try and keep Culcay off of him.
Culcay failed to step on the gas in the way he needed to in the last 4 rounds of the fight. If he had let his hands go a little bit more, he probably would have won the fight because Andrade was there to be beaten tonight. He was all arms and legs, and missing badly most of the night.
Andrade was fortunate that he didn’t have to fight someone like Jermall Charlo tonight because he would have been in trouble. The shots that Culcay was hitting Andrade with would have been knockout blows.
The results of the fight showed that Andrade was just a little bit better than Culcay, but not by much. It was a fight that could have been won by Culcay if he’d made some minor adjustments in his game. Culcays was a lot better when he was attacking Andrade with flurries on the inside. Andrade had no power in close, and he was very vulnerable. Culcay clearly got the better of Andrade almost every time he would get near enough to throw his punches on the inside. Andrade will need to up his game if he wants to become a big star in boxing. He’s been complaining lately that the top guys like Saul Canelo Alvarez won’t fight him. But with the way that Andrade fought tonight, it’s hard to imagine him being able to compete with Canelo. If it had been Canelo inside the ring with Culcay instead of Andrade, he likely would have stopped the German based fighter within 6 rounds. The fact that Andrade couldn’t do the job on Culcay is really telling. It shows that Andrade has a lot of limitations to his game. Andrade does not look to be fighting at the same level as WBA Super World junior middleweight champion Erislandy Lara. The Cuban fighter appears to be the better fighter. Andrade will need to raise his game if he wants to beat Lara in the future.
Other boxing results on the card:
Nikki Adler (UD 10 Mery Rancier
Leon Bauer pts 10 Soso Abuladze
Gamal Yafai UD 6 Khvicha Gigolashvili