By Jimmy James: WBO middleweight champion Demetrius Andrade has been ducked by Mexican boxing superstar Canelo Alvarez for over seven years now. Andrade was the reason why Canelo never wanted to fight for the WBO belt at 154-60lbs. In fact, Andrade is the reason why Canelo Alvarez never wanted to become undisputed at middleweight and decided to abandon the division to avoid the skillful American boxer.
I broke a story several months ago where Canelo rejected a $40M offer sent by Eddie Hearn to fight for an undisputed championship against Andrade. Canelo fought Avni Yildirim, Daniel Jacobs, Billy Joe Saunders, and Sergey Kovalev for a max bid of $35M and fought Callum Smith for less than $35M. The purses of Miguel Cotto and Erislandy Lara were much lower than the ones mentioned above. He fought Rocky Fielding for $15M, and other fights do not even reach $10M in collected revenue for the Mexican star.
Canelo not only lost out on obtaining the third biggest payday of his career after fighting Gennady Golovkin and Floyd Mayweather Jr by taking Hearn’s offer to fight Andrade but lost the opportunity of a lifetime to become an undisputed champion in the middleweight division of the great Sugar Ray Robinson: Historically, middleweight was 154-60lb when only eight divisions ruled boxing. Canelo’s real nemesis has always been Andrade, and Eddy Reynoso knows this as well, which is why they ducked him at all cost when they campaigned at middleweight.
Reynoso, in an interview back in 2014, had said that Andrade was an “excellent fighter,” and somehow now, according to Canelo, “Andrade is a horrible fighter.” What changed? Well, it’s funny how people simply change their minds as they see the threat of losing their stardom with a boxer they know will beat them. Reynoso could never figure out Andrade’s style, so they resorted to a marketing ploy to say Andrade is a “boring fighter.” The reason why he can’t figure Andrade out is simply that he is not that great of a trainer; he got lucky with Canelo! He also got lucky with the WBC crusade to protect his fighters, like we saw with Oscar Valdez and making up imaginary championships like the WBC Franchise belt created to serve Canelo.
If you cannot beat your opponent in the ring fighting, the best next move is two degrade his image by saying, “he is boring.”Canelo never said he wouldn’t fight Andrade because of low PPV numbers; he was offered $40M but said he wouldn’t fight him because “he is boring and a horrible fighter.” Money was never the issue here, as many desperate Canelo fanboys use Pinocchio tactics to falsely accuse Andrade; the real problem was Andrade’s awkward style.
In the past few articles I wrote, I destroyed the myth that looking into the past of a fighter’s opponents doesn’t do much, other than point to the fact that styles make fights. If people laugh at Andrade for getting floored by a shot by Alantez Fox in a fight he clearly dominated, we can always mirror Canelo and laugh when he tied world-renown Jorge Juarez at the beginning stages of his career. Had Canelo started his career in the United States in the amateur and pro ranks, he would have never made it alive if he tied Jorge Juarez in Mexico! Andrade was far superior to Canelo in his youth, beating the likes of Keith Thurman three times in the amateurs.
I know for a fact that Andrade will humiliate Canelo in the ring, and he will make Canelo look like an ordinary fighter. It will be, for many casual boxing fans, the biggest upset in history, but for me, it will be justice. Max Kellerman. Terrence Crawford, Jose Benavidez, Andre Ward, and many others in the sport of boxing have acknowledged that Andrade will beat Canelo in separate interviews. They have also recognized that Canelo ducks Andrade, and no one wants to get in the ring with him.
The high mobility, technique, and high ring IQ of Andrade will drive Canelo nuts. Andrade is hard to figure out, and Canelo cannot outbox him. Andrade will make Canelo doubt himself with his jab and defense and systematically break him down. Canelo does not want this fight because he knows he will lose and transfer his fame to Andrade. Canelo, deep inside, knows he can’t beat Andrade; he just hides his emotions to pretend he is not afraid to fight him because he is highly insecure of himself.