By Charles Brun: Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn says he’s planning on having WBO middleweight champion Demetrius Andrade defend next against fringe contender Jason Quigley on November 20th in Boston or Providence, Rhode Island.
If this fight gets made, it will continue the trend that we’ve seen with Hearn matching Andrade with the UK fighters since he signed the 2008 U.S Olympian to Matchroom Boxing. In Andrade’s last two title defenses, he’s beaten Liam Williams and Luke Keeler, and neither fight attracted much interest from American boxing fans.
Hearn says his reasoning for possibly matching the unbeaten American Andrade (30-0, 18 KOs) against the Ireland native Quigley (19-1, 14 KOs) because none of the top fighters are interested in fighting him.
Still, the 30-year-old Quigley would be an extremely disappointing pick for Andrade to defend against, as he’s not a household name in the U.S, despite having fought his entire seven-year professional career in the states.
In 2019, Quigley was stopped in the ninth round by Tureano Johnson in a one-sided fight from start to finish. Since that loss, Quigley has rebounded with victories over lower-level fighters Shane Mosley Jr, Fernando Marin, and Abraham Cordero.
Quigley barely edged Mosley Jr by a 10 round majority decision in a fight that could have gone either way.
“I think Quigley might get the fight. It’s a decent name in America and a good fight for the East Coast. I’d like to give him [Quigley] the opportunity,” said Eddie Hearn to Pro Boxing Fans on WBO middleweight champion Demetrius Andrade’s next title defense.
“Again, none of the big names are forthcoming to fight Demetrius Andrade. He needs to fight. November 20, potentially in Boston or Providence. I think Quigley might get it,” said Hearn.
It’s got to be disappointing for Boo Boo Andrade to be getting matched against such poor opposition time after time.
When Andrade inked with Hearn, he sounded optimistic, as if he would open doors for him to fight Gennadiy Golovkin, Jermall Charlo, and Canelo Alvarez.
Instead of Andrade fighting those top fighters, he’s been stuck spinning his wheels against these fringe-level fighters:
- Liam Williams
- Luke Keeler
- Maciej Sulecki
Quigley would fit in perfectly with that bunch of those guys, bringing no attention to the career of Andrade.
Recently, Andrade barged in on Canelo Alvarez’s post-fight press conference last May and tried to call him out. Canelo immediately told Andrade that he’s a “terrible fighter” and ordered him to “Get the f*** out of here.”
Jermall Charlo is equally not interested in fighting Andrade, even though he’s not facing high-caliber opposition either.
Andrade may need to move up to 168 if he wants to try and get bigger fights because he’s not going to get anyone to face him at 160.