By Barry Holbrook: Eddie Hearn says Demetrius Andrade’s next title defense of his WBO middleweight title could be against #10 Felix Cash or #11 Jason Quigley. Those two both come from the UK and are fringe contenders.

Andrade wanted a fight against Canelo Alvarez, Gennadiy Golovkin, or Jermall Charlo. Unfortunately, none of those fighters have shown interest in facing him. So instead of Andrade (30-0, 18 KOs) getting a bigger match-up to fight on DAZN, he may have to settle for Cash (14-0, 10 KOs) or Quigley (19-1-1, 14 KOs).

If one of those two is selected by Hearn for Andrade (30-0, 18 KOs), it will continue the type of opposition that the Rhode Island native has been defending against lately.

In Andrade’s last two defenses, he’s beaten British fighters, Liam Williams and Luke Keeler. The 2008 U.S Olympian Andrade defeated Williams by a 12 round unanimous decision in a tougher fight than expected last April.

Despite punishing Williams with massive uppercuts, left hooks, and right hands, he stuck around long enough to hurt Andrade on a couple of occasions in the championship rounds of the fight.

Felix Cash, 28, is arguably the better of the two options Hearn has for Andrade’s next fight. Cash can punch a little, and he has wins over these fighters:

Jason Welborn
Jack Cullen
Denzel Bentley
Rasheed Abolaji
Stephen Danyo

The UK boxing fans will appreciate Andrade fighting Cash, but not the U.S public. Most casual fans in the U.S will have never heard of Cash, and they won’t be excited at the prospect of watching Andrade fight him.

If the idea is for Hearn to increase Andrade’s popularity in the U.S, which he sorely needs, choosing Cash or Quigley is the wrong way to go about it.

Quigley, 30, is from Ireland and has won his last three fights since losing to Tureano Johnson by a ninth round stoppage in July 2019. Tureano dominated Quigley in a one-sided fight before the contest was halted.

Quigley’s best wins:

Shane Mosley Jr
James De la Rosa
Glen Tapia
Freddy Hernandez

Quigley’s loss to Tureano Johnson showed his limits as a fighter, which is arguably why he hasn’t progressed as a fighter. You can’t say Quigley rates a world title shot off of his recent wins over Mosley Jr., Fernando Marin, and Abraham Cordero.

With the way Andrade is being matched, he could hold onto his WBO 160-lb title into his 40s because he’s being put in with guys that don’t rate fighting for a title.