By Jeff Aronow: WBO middleweight champion Demetrius Andrade fights Liam Williams on Saturday night in a fight promoted by Matchroom Boxing on DAZN.
Andrade (29-0, 18 KOs) will search for his 30th career when he takes on his gung ho mandatory Williams (23-2-1, 18 KOs) at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida.
While this fight isn’t a big deal for the 32-year-old Andrade, it’s the equivalent of the World Cup for Williams. He’s never had a fight like this before during his 10-year pro career.
The closest thing that Williams has gotten to a big fight is his first match against former WBO interim junior middleweight champion Liam Smith in 2017.
Williams ended up losing that fight by a ninth-round stoppage after suffering a bad right eye laceration, which resulted in the contest being halted.
Andrade is a higher-level fighter than Liam Smith, and the title he holds is the real one, not the interim WBO strap that Williams fought for in 2017.
Andrade looking for bigger fightsÂ
“It’s my time; it’s my show. I’m ready to let it all out,” said Andrade to Behind The Gloves. “I’m letting the folks know to tune in because it’s going to be a hell of a fight. It’s nothing new.
“It’s the same s*** everyone says,” said Andrade in reacting to the things Liam Williams has said about him. “‘I’m going to knock him out. I’m going to do this; I’m going to do that.’ It’s just boxing. It’s what they say and what they do.
“Actually, I’m the one that’s undefeated. I’m 28-0, and I’m going to be 29-0 with 19 knockouts [editor’s note: Andrade’s record is 29-0 with 18 knockouts].
“That’s what I’m looking forward to. Yeah, I got bigger things to looking forward to once I get past Williams,” said Andrade.
Demetrius has got to make quick work of Liam Williams and look nothing short of sensational to create pressure on the big names.
Fighters like Gennadiy Golovkin, Jermall Charlo, Canelo Alvarez, and Billy Joe Saunders will never fight Andrade unless they’re pressured. He’s one of those high-risk, low reward types of fighters.
That makes him someone that is best to be avoided permanently, and fortunately for them, Andrade isn’t popular. If he were popular, Canelo, GGG, and Saunders would have to fight him.
Demetrius unconcerned about Liam’s tough talk
“In Williams’ situation, yeah, it’s his first time fighting for a world championship. He’s going to train his a** off,” said Demetrius.
“He’s going to do everything he can to get it. I’ve been there and done that. It’s not new to me; I already know what to do. I’ve seen him 1000 times. He has never seen me.
“Yeah, he’s rough, tough, strong. I fight all strong guys throughout my whole career. What, am I supposed to be scared of someone that is tough and strong? Yeah, bring it on so I can show how much better I am than you.
“They all say, ‘If I fight him. Oh, if I put one of these things on him, he’s going down,'” said Andrade in reacting to Williams’ comment about how he’s going to “smash his face” on Saturday. ”
We all hear that from time to time. It’s cool that they have to hype themselves up and do what they need to do. On my end, it never happens.
“Usually, they’re the ones that go down. What happens when I touch you? What happens when I put my hands on you?” Demetrius said about Williams.
The trash talk from Williams, 27, isn’t worrying Andrade because he knows what he sees in him. The 2008 U.S Olympian has studied Williams’ fighting style, and he doesn’t rate him as a threat.
Some boxing fans call Williams a “Club fighter,” and they may not be too far off. There are bells and whistles to Williams’ game. He’s a Rocky Balboa type of fighter, but with less upper body movement.
If Williams isn’t able to land some of his big shots to hurt Andrade early, he may not last long against him.
We saw what Andrade do to his last two opponents Luke Keeler and Maciej Sulecki, reducing them to punching bags. It was too easy for Andrade.
Creating mandate for Golovkin fight
“It’s definitely going to be sweet because I haven’t fought since 2020 in January,” said Andrade when asked if a win over Liam Williams will be sweet. “Super Bowl weekend as my last fight.
“Being in the spotlight, and what we need to do to create the mandate for GGG and all these other guys.
“Yeah, it’s going to be sweet because it’s me again. Now it’s time to proceed. Let’s get to where we need to get to, and Liam Williams happens to be in my way right now.
“Yeah, for sure, I put a lot of pressure on GGG, and I went the Billy Joe route. It didn’t happen, so now I got to focus on my weight division.
That’s the 160-lb weight division now, and focus on the people that are there.
Liam Williams is the guy that I got to go through to go get attention back on these guys and to make the biggest fights happen. The biggest fights aren’t happening right now.
“I saw that,” said Andrade when told that Jermall Charlo had a lot to say about him.
“Do you guys want to say ‘Happy holidays’ when the holidays come around and stuff like that? It’s all good, baby.
“You can text me. And you want to say ‘Hi’ or “Merry Christmas.’ You guys can do that. You don’t have to be so mean, man. Chill, relax. Have some humble pie,” said Andrade.
It sounds like a smart thing for Andrade to do, beating Williams impressively to put pressure on Golovkin, but it’s probably going to be useless. If anything, Andrade will likely continue to be ignored by GGG if he destroys Williams.
IBF middleweight champion Golovkin seems to be only interested in fighting Canelo Alvarez, and other than that, making simple title defenses.
We just saw one of GGG’s easy defenses against Kamil Szeremeta, last December, a fighter that posed no threat to beating him.