By Brad Slotnick: Demetrius Andrade says he views Saturday’s fight between Callum Smith and Canelo Alvarez as a 50-50 fight, and he can see it going either way. According to Andrade, it’s going to come down to which of these two excellent super middleweights are able to use their game plan with great effectiveness.
Canelo 53-1-2, 36 KOs) and Smith (27-0, 19 KOs) will be fighting in front of a live audience on DAZN on December 19th at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.
The unbeaten WBO middleweight champion Andrade (29-0, 18 KOs) says the shorter fighter 5’8″ Canelo needs to get inside on the 6’3″ Smith for him to have success.
Alvarez can’t say on the outside and expect to be able to beat the lanky Calum, as he’s too short and he picked apart.
Andrade, 32, is hoping to face the winner of the Canelo vs. Smith at some point down the line. Firstly, Demetrius wants to move up and take on WBO super middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders in 2021.
However, Saunders is likely to sit and wait on the outcome of the Canelo – Smith fight, considering he’s already been mentioned by Alvarez as someone that he wishes to fight in a unification match if he’s successful against Callum on Saturday.
Alvarez vs. Callum is 50-50 fight says, Demetrius
“It’s a great fight. [Callum] Smith has got the reach, and he does box from the outside well,” said Demetrius Andrade in previewing the Canelo vs. Callum fight with DAZN.
“Canelo is going to have to get inside, and figure it out and get to that body [of Smith] early on, and try and take him to the deep waters.
“It’s a great fight, it’s a 50/50 fight. For the business, Canelo. Let’s go, Canelo,” said Andrade when asked who he would put his money on.
Canelo will be near helpless if the 6’3″ Smith can establish his jab and frequently move to keep him from getting inside on him. Likewise, Smith has the power game the stamina to potentially obliterate Canelo in all out-brawl.
The question is, can Smith prevent Canelo from getting inside on him like his last opponent John Ryder did? If not, Callum is going to need to beat Canelo at his own game by brawling with him at close quarters.
It’s not a given that Canelo will be too much for Smith on the inside because Callum can punch with massive power at close range as well. You have to give Canelo the edge if he’s able to work his way to the inside and stay there for long periods the way that Ryder did last year in November.
Smith did a terrible job of moving away to the outside and foolishly brawled with Ryder rather than tying him up and being reset by the referee.
Andrade clearly wants Canelo, 30, to win because he’s the money guy in the 168-lb division, and it’s better for him to keep winning long enough for him to take him on.
Unfortunately for Andrade, Canelo won’t look his way unless he has a world title in his possession. Again, for Andrade to get his hands on a title, he’ll need one of the champions at super middleweight to accommodate him by giving him a title shot.
Saunders is the most likely guy that would face Andrade, but only because he’s with DAZN and he’s the WBO middleweight champion.
The World Boxing Organization will move Andrade to #1 in the WBO’s rankings at 168 if he asks them, which he should have already done. Andrade needs to vacate his WBO 160-lb title and move up to 168.
It appears that Andrade will stay at 160 long enough to defend against his WBO mandatory Liam Williams, as it’s a fight that UK boxing fans would be interested in seeing.
Andrade: The top 168-pounders must fight each other
“That’s what I’ve been asking for a long time now is getting in there with one of the elite guys,” said Andrade in talking about wanting to face Billy Joe Saunders.
“He’s one of the best guys. We can make that happen because I have the WBO at the 160-pound division.
Me moving up to 168, that should be an easy deal to make, and I’m ready to do that. Canelo, he’s fighting Callum Smith, and GGG, he’s fighting these guys [Kamil Szeremeta].
We also need to start fighting each other because we can’t sit there and wait and see who Canelo picks.
“We need to get in the ring and fight each other, and demand for Canelo to pick us.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mw2cpjc5fd8
“That’s going to help us me and Billy Joe. It’s about that time to make that happen [fighting Saunders],” said Andrade.
Of all the super middleweights, Callum Smith has been the guy that has shown serious interest in facing all the champions at 168. Regrettably, you can’t say the same thing about the other champions.
Despite being a big talker, Saunders has been extremely selective in the guys he’s faced since he picked up the WBO 168-pound belt last year against Shefat Isufi.
Saunders has defended his WBO belt twice against embarrassingly bad opposition in 38-year-old Martin Murray and an unknown fringe contender Marco Estaban Coceres.
To expect the 31-year-old Saunders to change his stripes at this point in his career asks the impossible. Saunders will ignore Andrade and the other top fighters at 168 and wait for Canelo to look his way.
Andrade’s only chance of fighting Saunders is if he immediately vacates the WBO middleweight title and moves up to 168.
Even then, Andrade would need the WBO to order Saunders to fight him right away. You can bet that Saunders would resist that notion, appeal, and drag his feet until the bitter end rather than agree to face Demetrius.
IBF super-middleweight champion Caleb Plant is with PBC, and, likely, the only guy they would agree to let him fight from DAZN is Canelo or middleweight Gennadiy Golovkin.
It’s improbable that Plant would face Saunders, Callum Smith, or Andrade. Of course, if Callum beats Canelo twice in a row, PBC would give Plant the green light to face him, but he’s got to try and do that.