By Jimmy James: ESPN broadcaster and host Brian Custer read a question on a live interview with Canelo Alvarez that said the following, “Hey, Canelo, why have you continually refused to fight Demetrius Andrade. Never at 154-60lb, and he holds a belt! You called him boring, but you smashed Billy Joe Saunders, who has a similar style?”
Canelo responded, “Nah, he is a horrible fighter, and I do not want to fight with him. He hasn’t fought with anybody.”
In my opinion, Canelo is one of the biggest disappointments in boxing history. It is somewhat shameful how he can get away with ducking fighters who his majesty considers “horrible.” Ironically Avni Yildirim, Liam Smith, Caleb Plant, Billy Joe Saunders, Alfredo Angulo, Rocky Fielding, James Kirkland, etc., must have been at a completely different level than Andrade. If Andrade is horrible, the ones mentioned above are horrible at the cube. We all know deep inside that Kirland was really Sugar Ray Robinson in a Halloween costume, and Ezzard Charles disguised himself as Avni Yildrim! Ironically, Andrade held the WBO-WBA titles in 154lb and the WBO in 160lb, which is more belts than any of the individual achievements of the boxers mentioned above.
In fact, Canelo was only one belt away to become undisputed in middleweight if he had only faced the WBO champion, Andrade.
Likewise, he never sought the WBO in 154lb to avoid Andrade until it was vacated! The pride of Jalisco would have made history for Mexico by becoming the first Mexican to conquer the middleweight division. Yet, he decided it was best for his controversial legacy to fight against the shell of Sergey Kovalev. A fight where he gave grandpa a rehydration clause accompanied by a really weird knockout that looked like a Hollywood 80’s scripted movie with Steven Seagal.
Andrade has been ducked by Gennady Golovkin, Sergey Dereyenchenko, Erislady Lara, Jaime Mungia, Jermall Charlo, and his majesty, the pride of Jalisco. The only time Andrade missed his opportunity was against Jermell Charlo eight years ago during a bad move where he decided to change promotions from Star Boxing’s to Roc Nation as they offered more money. A move that resulted in not fighting Jermell accompanied by bad blood between the two. Either way, shortly after, he sought Jermell and Jermall day and night for eight years to fight them, while the twins kept playing the “2014 card” to avoid fighting against him.
In fact, I am going to go even further! Andrade is the most avoided fighter in the past 70 years, since the inception of the Black Murderers’ Row. I know of no fighter who has been more ducked in the past 70 years. I have never seen a fighter pass through such torture trying to find someone willing to square inside the ring with him. Max Kellerman said it right, “I would love to see Demetrius Andrade vs. Canelo Alvarez.”
Canelo is supposed to be this superstar who is not afraid of taking challenges, and like he said multiple times, “nos tenemos que dejar de mamadas,” which means “I am not afraid, lets fight.” But he says one thing inside the ring to impress his casual audience who’s unaware of the rehydration clauses he imposed in many of his fights, outside of ducking undefeated American boxers always looking for English crumpets and old soldiers to cement his questionable legacy. Let me repeat that again, Canelo ducks “undefeated American boxers” since the last one gave him a good whopping as he mistakenly thought he was on his way out like Sugar Shane Mosley. He also never gave Erislandy Lara a second fight; ever wonder why?
Andrade will eventually have to move up to fight at super middleweight as he is avoided at middleweight. Here is a prediction of what will happen in the near future. You see, he will have to fight David Benavidez or Dave Morrell Jr — two fighters that, when mentioned, Eddy Reynoso and Canelo, simply ignore — in order to show he is not afraid of facing the best opponents. Those three will set up a grueling match as they are all ducked.
Canelo will be licking his chops after the extraordinary performance of Edgar Berlanga, who showed he is not a horrible fighter like Andrade (insert sarcasm). Berlanga is another boxer who avoided Morrell Jr, Benavidez, and Steven Nelson. Berlanga reminds me of Caleb Plant, who has done an extraordinary job avoiding Benavidez. So Canelo will more than likely face Berlanga, Jermall Charlo and possibly make Errol Spence Jr move up to a catchweight. Always seeking the hardest challenges, like making Amir Khan move up two weight classes.
If Andrade lost against Benavidez, Canelo would say, ‘Oh, he wasn’t anything special.’ If Andrade won against Benavidez, Canelo would say, ‘Oh, he was never on my level.’ Canelo strategically isolates boxers like Andrade to make them eventually fight other avoided fighters from different divisions like Jermall, Benavidez, or Morrell. Jermall is now playing the chicken game with Andrade and Benavidez. That way, boxers like Canelo, Jermall Charlo, or Gennady Golovkin can rest assured they won’t transfer their glutinous power and fame to an obscure opponent that we knew they ducked. I will end this way, Canelo offered Jason Quigley a fight on Sept. 12, 2020. Anything else to say?