By Jeff Aronow: Trainer Andre Rozier is excited about the future for Demetrius Andrade, Sergiy Derevyanchenko, and David Benavidez. He sees three fighters finding a lot of success. In the case of Andrade and Benavidez, Rozier is predicting that both fighters will make huge money at 168.
Rozier says he sees two-time middleweight title challenger Derevyanchenko (13-2, 10 KOs) as an uncrowned World champion following his controversial 12 round unanimous decision to Gennadiy Golovkin last October in New York.
Derevyanchenko lost a narrow decision to GGG in a clash for the vacant IBF 160-pound title. The results left a bad taste in the mouth of the boxing world.
Rozier was hoping that Golovkin would give Derevyanchenko a rematch, but instead, he’s moved on and is looking to defend his IBF middleweight title against Kamil Szeremeta after the lockdown.
If Andrade moves up to 168, that could open up an opportunity for the 34-year-old Derevyanchenko to go after his vacant WBO 160-pound title. Derevyanchenko will need to make a move somewhere because he doesn’t have a lot of time left to capitalize on the remainder of his prime.
Derevyanchenko will be world champion
“What I wanted to see was a rematch between GGG and Sergiy. I thought we won the fight, but we got jobbed a bit,” said Rozier to AB Boxing News on last October’s fight between Golovkin and Derevyanchenko.
“Sergiy is one of my favorite fighters, and he’s one of the nicest young men walking the planet. We’re not going to stop. We’re going to keep climbing and go all the way to the top, Sergiy is the uncrowded middleweight champion of the world, and one day he’ll have a belt around his waist.
“There are fantastic fights out there for him. So we’re going to try and take advantage of every moment we get. The only one that I don’t want Sergiy Derevyanchenko to be in the ring with is Demetrius Andrade,” said Rozier.
Golovkin, 38, probably won’t offer Derevyanchenko a rematch unless he stays around and becomes his IBF mandatory. It’s believed that Golovkin will be retiring in a couple of years, and he may not want to use up one of his last remaining fights against Derevyanchenko. With Derevyanchenko’s body punching, he’ll give Golovkin a lot of problems in a second fight.
He had GGG hurt a couple of times with the shots that he was hitting him with to the midsection last October. In round five, Derevyanchenko came close to dropping Golovkin after hurting him with a shot to the breadbasket. Golovkin looked on the verge of being knocked down when the referee stopped the action after he bumped into him.
Big money ahead for Demetrius Andrade
“I think Boo Boo is eventually going to go up to 168 also. He’s one of the biggest middleweights out there size-wise, and people keep avoiding him,” said Rozier. “He needs to get his touch of energy and touch of shine so that he can make 10-15 million dollars, and we shall see. It’s there, though,” said Rozier.
It’s in Andrade’s best interest to move up to 168 to go after the bigger money fights against the likes of Benavidez, Jermall Charlo, Canelo Alvarez, Callum Smith, and Billy Joe Saunders. The middleweight division is clearing out, and it’s pointless for Andrade (29-0, 18 KOs) to remain in that weight class for too much longer.
By moving up to 168, Andrade can force a title shot against WBO super middleweight champion Saunders or whoever has the belt by the time he moves up. Canelo and Saunders are still likely to fight when boxing restarts, and there can only be one winner in that fight.
The question then would be whether Canelo would vacate the WBO title after Andrade moves up to 168 to become his mandatory? It would look weak on Canelo’s part if he elects to give up the WBO title rather than fight Andrade, but it’s possible he would make that move.
Canelo has never shown interest in fighting the slick southpaw Andrade in the past, and that probably won’t change in the future.
David Benavidez will be hard to beat
“I think it’s a tough fight,” said Rozier when asked who wins a fight between David Benavidez and Jermall Charlo. It’s going to be really hard to beat him. Anybody that steps into his weight because I see him as the best super middleweight on the planet.
“Anybody that steps into his weight will have a lot of problems. One day he being so young, one day, I see Benavidez and Edgar Berlanga making $14 to $20 million when they fight each other. I can’t wait for it. Let’s get the fights going when they’re supposed to go. It’s going to be a fantastic fight,” said Rozier.
Jermall Charlo will have a lot of problems if he moves up to super-middleweight to take on Benavidez for his WBC title. Charlo (30-0, 22 KOs) said last week that he wants to go up to 168 to fight Benavidez, but we’ll have to see if he was serious or not.
Benavidez, 23, is someone that could soon be a big star in the sport if he can get fights against Caleb Plant, Canelo, Charlo, Callum Smith, and Saunders. He wants all that smoke. What Benavidez going for him is his youth. Even if fighters like Plant, Canelo, and Charlo duck him, he’s going to be around a lot longer than they will. Eventually, they’re going to have to fight Benavidez after he gains more popularity.
The 22-year-old Edgar Berlanga is another guy that has stardom written all over him. The one-punch power that Berlanga has in both hands will make it an exciting fight between him and Benavidez. Unfortunately, we probably won’t see those two face each other for another three to four years.
Rozier doubts Spence would beat prime Mayweather
“I think Errol is stating his opinion on his capabilities,” said Rozier on Errol Spence, stating that he’d have beaten Floyd Mayweather Jr. in his prime. “Do I feel the same way? No,” said Rozier when asked to comment on Errol Spence’s recent comments about him being capable of beating Floyd Mayweather Jr. if he were still in his prime.
“I don’t think anybody can beat a prime Floyd Mayweather unless you dig down into the echelon of the super-duper welterweights with guys that were really fantastic.
“He dictated policy like no one else, and he just knew how not to lose. And he doesn’t need to knock you out. He just needs to control the environment to be victorious. There’s one that has done it better,” said Rozier.
Errol Spence Jr. gave Floyd Mayweather Jr. a lot of problems when they sparred six-years ago, and that was when Floyd was still pretty much in his prime. It’s possible that Spence could have beaten Mayweather in his prime because he struggles against fighters that jab, box, and can punch.
The mistakes that Oscar De La Hoya made in losing a razor-close decision to Mayweather in 2007 are ones that Spence wouldn’t make. Mayweather is not a natural welterweight, and Spence would have massive size and power advantage over him.
Teofimo Lopez with nothing to lose against Lomachenko
‘That’s going to be a great fight,” said Rozier on the Vasily Lomachenko vs. Teofimo Lopez fight. “I like Tea. That’s my nickname for him. The Loma fight is going to be a good barometer of where he’s going to be going.
“If he comes up short, it’s not a loss. It’s like you were in there with one of the all-time greats, and a lot of people were expecting him not to be victorious.
“It’s either he shines mentally, or he has a new experience to put in the bank, and he can go on to be even greater because he’s also very young,” said Rozier.
IBF lightweight champion Teofimo Lopez will give WBA/WBC/WBO champion Vasiliy Lomachenko a lot of things to think about when they meet up. It’s one of those fights where the younger lion will have a lot of success against the older guy, who is starting to get hit a lot.
It’s safe to say that if Teofimo can land the kinds of shots on Lomachenko that Luke Campbell and Jose Pedraza both did, we could see a knockout.
