By Jeff Aronow: Demetrius Andrade’s originally scheduled opponent for November 27th, Dusty Hernandez-Harrison, is overweight, and his team is looking to use D’Mitrius Ballard as a replacement for that date.

Mike Coppinger is reporting that Ballard is the guy that Andrade’s team is looking at to step in to replace the overweight Dusty.

Given that the unbeaten 27-year-old Ballard (20-0-1, 13 KOs) is an unknown like Hernandez-Harris, there’s no loss or gain with him as the potential replacement for Demetrius.

Andrade needs to face better opposition

What is disappointing is that Andrade could wind up fighting a non-contender for his next fight on November 27th in Ballard.

With Ballard being a middleweight, it opens up the question of whether this will be a title defense for Andrade for his fight at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, in Hollywood, Florida.

The World Boxing Organization would need to sanction the Andrade-Ballard fight for it to be a title defense for the 32-year-old Andrade. Right now, Andrade is scheduled to fight a 10-rounder on November 27th against an opponent still to be determined at the above venue.

Andrade’s promoters at Matchroom need to be a little more industrious to find him quality opposition to fight, as he’s done nothing since signing with them last year. In his last three fights, Andrade has beaten these fighters:

Artur Akavov
Maciej Sulecki
Luke Keeler

Those are the type of middle of the road opposition that former WBO 160lb champion Billy Joe Saunders used to defend his title against when he held the strap at middleweight.

The Temple Hills, Maryland native Ballard is coming off a draw against 2012 Olympian Yamaguchi Falcao last December. Ballard has wins over Alan Campa, Victor Fonseca, Jaime Solorio, Ricardo Adrian Luna Flores, and Zoltan Sera in the last three years.

In other words, Ballard has beaten nobody of note during his seven-year pro career, which is why he’s not ranked in the top 15 by any of the sanctioning bodies.

Demetrius wants to challenge for the 168-lb title in 2021

Andrade wants to move up to super-middleweight and challenge WBO champ Billy Joe Saunders or WBA champ Callum Smith in 2021. Both of those champions are with the same promoters as Andrade at Matchroom Boxing, and they should be easy fights to make.

“Sources: Demetrius Andrade is scheduled to fight Dusty Hernandez-Harrison on Nov. 27 on DAZN, but it’s possible Boo Boo will face a different opponent.

“When Dusty accepted the 168-pound non-title bout, he was way overweight. D’Mitrius Ballard is being explored as a replacement,” said @MikeCoppinger.