By Jeff Aranow: Demetrius Andrade (26-0, 16 KOs) dominated Walter Kautondokwa (17-1, 16 KOs) in beating him by a one-sided 12 round unanimous decision Saturday night to claim the vacant World Boxing Organization 154 lb title on DAZN at the TD Garden in Boston, Mass.
Andrade stayed away from Kautondokwa’s powerful right hand by circling the ring in the last half of the contest. Occasionally, Andrade would get hit hard by Kautondokwa, but he was able to handle his power.
The scores were 120-104, 120-104, and 119-105. Boxing News 24 had Andrade winning by a wide 120-104. It’s not surprising that Kautondokwa lost so badly, because he was a guy ranked highly by the World Boxing Organization at #2 seemingly for no reason. Kautondokwa had never beaten a contender in his career, and he was only brought in as a replacement after Billy Joe Saunders vacated his WBO 160 lb belt in response to the Massachusetts State Athletic Commission deciding not to give him his boxing license to fight in their state due to his positive test for the banned substance oxilofrine.
Andrade dropped the 33-year-old Kautondokwa four times in the fight. However, at least two of the knockdowns were balance issues in which the upright Kautondokwa was knocked down because he standing straight up like a bowling pin rather than placing his feet far apart like well-schooled fighters do.
The referee Steve Willis blew a call in the 4th round by failing to call a double knockdown when both fighters went down upon being hit with left hand. Willis only counted Andrade’s knockdown and ignoring the knockdown by Kautondokwa. The referee Willis was blowing calls all night long by failing to penalize Andrade for his countless low blows that he landed.
In the 1st round, Andrade dropped Kautondokwa with a left to the head. While Kautondokwa was on the canvas, Andrade nailed him hard with a shot to the head that badly hurt him. The referee Willis did nothing about the clear foul. It’s unclear why he chose not to take a point off, as it’s normal for referees to take a point off when a fighter deliberately hits their opponents when they’re on the deck. In this example, Andrade wound up and unloaded with all his might in hitting the helpless Kautondokwa. The referee looked like he was not mentally engaged at that moment. The third man in the ring might as well have been someone from the crowd, because Willis was pretty much useless the entire fight. The way that Andrade wound up on the illegal punch while Kautondokwa was on the canvas in the 1st was just sick to watch. How the referee Willis could allow a blatant foul go like that without disqualifying or at least penalizing Andrade is anyone’s guess. It was sad to see such a poor effort from a referee that was supposed to be protecting the fighters.
Overall, it was a less than exciting fight due to the movement that Andrade used after he built up a huge lead in the first four rounds. Between the movement by Andrade and the poor officiating from referee Steve Willis, it was a difficult match to watch. Andrade didn’t want to take any chances after he built up a lead, so he spent the last eight rounds on his bicycle circling the ring trying not to get hit. For his part, Kautondokwa was afraid to throw punches for fear of being countered by Andrade. Kautondokwa threw almost nothing in the last eight rounds of the fight He was getting countered each time he would throw one of his shots, and that made him reluctant to let his hands go in the way that he needed to for him to have a chance of winning.
The victory for Andrade now gives him the WBO middleweight title, which his promoter Eddie Hearn will use to try and lure some of the other fighters in the division like Gennady Golovkin and Saul Canelo Alvarez to fight him. The movement that Andrade used tonight might have ruined what little chances that he had of getting Canelo or GGG to fight him. The last thing those guys want is to deal with a runner. They like to fight guys that stand in front of them and fight. Golovkin especially dislikes fighting guys that move on him after having to deal with that in his first fight against Canelo, and in his matches against Daniel Jacobs and Kell Brook. Andrade might have a chance of getting a fight against Billy Joe Saunders if he decides that he wants to go after his lost WBO title. Hearn already said this week that he would like to make the Andrade vs. Saunders fight immediately after the Kautondokwa. Saunders will have to be willing to chase Andrade around the ring for 12 rounds for him to take the fight, because it’s going to be a hard one if he doesn’t have a good set of wheels to chase the 6’1″ 2008 U.S Olympia around the ring for 12 rounds.