By Jimmy James: Demetrius Andrade said in an interview that he wants all the big names in the middleweight division. Andrade questions Saúl Canelo Álvarez boxing pedigree based on fights against off-prime Sugar Shane Mosley, Miguel Cotto and Sergey Kovalev.
“Can’t knockout their strategy in the business sense, but when is Canelo going to fight someone who’s on their prime, hungry and going to give boxing fans and also the world the greatest fights outhere?” Andrade asked.
I said it many times before and I will repeat again, Canelo is simply not fighting prime young USA boxers who’re undefeated. His record is 3-1 with elite USA boxers. USA is the benchmark of world boxing and the more American elite boxers Canelo fights, the greater the chances he will lose as compared with boxing against other nations with lower pedigree.
Canelo is always struggled with technical boxers with good head movement and feather feet. His fights against Erislandy Lara, Daniel Jacobs or Floyd Mayweather Jr, bare witness of how close some of those fights were — no clear domination from the Mexican superstar in any of those bouts.
There’s little doubt in my head that Canelo’s team is somewhat hesitant to make fights against boxers like Andrade, Jermall Charlo and David Benavidez because Golden Boy fear losing their cash-cow status in world boxing.
Canelo is surrounded with young dangerous boxers all across him, no matter what division or direction he decides to fight in, he has to face these guys. ESPN claims he could potentially be the greatest boxer of this decade. Yet, Canelo is not risking against young hungry lions and instead trying to callout retired boxers like Floyd Mayweather Jr and Andre Ward.
Canelo said Andrade’s style is boring, and wouldn’t fend well as entertainment for his fanbase, but did he question himself when he fought Rocky Fielding? Canelo needs to stop making excuses and take these young guys out, otherwise he just might be afraid to fight these guys at Middleweight. I believe he fears Andrade.
‘For me, I’m fighting the toughest guys out there. I’m not fighting old men. The type of guys they’re [Canelo] fighting, they might have the name, like ‘The Krusher.’ He did his thing, but he’s not ‘The Krusher’ that we all know. That’s like me going in there and fighting Roy Jones. That’s not the Roy Jones that we all know. So me getting that victory over Roy Jones, okay, I beat Roy Jones.
‘For me, there’s only so many guys out there for me, and there’s only so many guys out there for them as well,” said Andrade. “It has to happen. If I continue to beat the top guys, and they continue to beat the top 10 guys, there’s only us left still. What are we going to do, wait until the young guys to come up?
“I’m going to be too old then,” said Andrade. “I’m going to be like, ‘I don’t want to fight you young, hungry guys. You guys got that.’ I think the window for the elite fighters are closing, and we’re going to have to fight each other eventually. Canelo finally. I can respect a Canelo, and I can respect their business strategy in how they’re trying to become a legendary fighter. But at the same time, who are you fighting to become that? You’re fighting guys that are 40-years-old; Mosley, Cotto, and ‘The Krusher,'” said Andrade.
