By Ray Kilgore: If nothing else, Demetrius Andrade has done a good job of getting his name out in the public eye. There are hundreds of Google articles about him, and even if they all don’t read the way he’d like, they’re still out there. In an era when some boxers are all talk with little substance, the 23-year-old Andrade has been able to back up his words. He is undefeated (15-0, 10 KOs) and has a pile of amateur awards as tall as his 6-foot-1inch frame
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Andrade is handsome, funny, and confident: all the qualities that prompted Star Boxing and Banner Promotions to take an interest in him; an investment that Andrade plans to cash in on this Friday at the Mohegan Sun when he takes on Derek Ennis for the NABO Junior Middleweight title. The bout will be broadcast live on ESPN.
And while their ring aliases may sound childish--“Boo Boo” for Andrade and “Pooh” for Ennis--the showdown is nothing less than a solid fight; Andrade is rated No. 9 by the WBO, 13 by the IBF and WBC, and 15 by the WBA. Ennis (23-3-1, 13 KOs) has worked his way up to the No.9 ranking by the IBF, which still doesn’t worry Andrade.
“I am coming to win strong and hard,” Andrade told Secondsout.com . “It’s a 10-round fight. I don’t plan to go ten rounds. But if it does, I am in great shape and I am going to take him to a place he hasn’t been yet.” It’s an ironic metaphor, given that Andrade has now become accustomed to hearing feedback that is different from what came his way during his days as an amateur.
Andrade was born in Providence, Rhode Island, and took up boxing at age six—although he had no inkling that the sport would transcend his life the way it has years later.
“It was fun to me, going to the gym, doing the speed bag and jumping rope,” said Andrade. The exercises were a source of entertainment to him then, not necessary training. “When you’re young, you don’t look at it as being a good boxer.,” Andrade added. As time wore on, Andrade, a graduate of Cooley High School, discovered boxing was his passion.
In the mid-1990s, Andrade started to participate in the sport as a competitor, becoming so proficient that in 2007, it looked as if he was moving toward fulfilling Olympic dreams, until South Korea’s Kim Jung-Joo spoiled his plans.
“I was kind of use to it,” said Andrade, reflecting on his 11-9 defeat to Jung-Joo, which remains a controversial decision. “I’ve been overseas many times before. We all knew that we were going to get robbed,” said Andrade, speaking with a strong Rhode Island accent. “It wasn’t going to stop me; that was temporary as I worked my way to the top to be a champ,”
While the loss to Jung-Joo was heartbreaking, Andrade didn’t receive much criticism as an amateur, mostly because he dominated opponents.
But his transition into the world of professional boxing hasn’t been so smooth. Many fans, and several boxing writers started by questioning the quality of his opponents, then they picked up momentum and questioned what they thought were his inconsistent ring performances.
“What he’s displaying in each fight is the person’s weakness,” said Andrade’s lead trainer and long-time personal friend, Rob Valle. “Everybody started saying that Grady Brewer [who Andrade defeated by a unanimous decision in his last fight] would knock him out in the fourth or fifth round,” Valle told Secondsout.com. “Brewer barely touched him. When certain people have a gift, or talent, they make things look easy, and people start to think this guy doesn’t work hard, and none of that is true.”
Like his idol Roy Jones Jr., (who Andrade would like to meet one day), Andrade has been branded a “safety first fighter,” which invariably leads to scrutiny. Boxing writers and fans love consistency; former undisputed heavyweight champion Mike Tyson was popular in the ring mostly because, early in his career, he gave fans a certain level of comfort, knowing what they could expect. Most who watched Tyson knew he wasn’t worried about adopting a flashy style but rather that he would try and take his foe’s head off.
For Andrade, trying to fight in one particular style doesn’t cut it. “My dad trained me to the best of my abilities, and my abilities was going in there and switch it up by using A, B, or C if I needed to,” said Andrade.
“I understand that the media is part of the boxing world, and put out whatever fans can read; but as long as I go out and give a good show People who understand boxing knows nobody would just go in there and slug it out.”
Valle echoed his fighter’s thoughts and quickly added that Andrade has yet to fail to follow through on pre-fight promises. “In the [pre] interview with ESPN before the Brewer fight, he told them what he was going to do,” said Valle. “He said I am going to ‘Jab, jab, jab, jab.’ It wasn’t like he went in there and said, ‘I am going to knock the guy out in the third round,’ and didn’t do it.”
At this point, Team Andrade said they have more pressing issues to worry about especially going into this fight. “You never know what can happen,” said Valle. “We are going to be fully prepared; there’s going to be no halfway this, no halfway that.”
Andrade then added, “I don’t pay attention to distractions when it comes time to worry about my business in boxing.”
Valle said for this fight, they have brought in out of state sparring partners, which they feel will give Andrade an added edge. As for the boxer’s future, the answer is clear.
“All the big money fighters are in their 30’s and I am not in no rush for a title fight,” he said. “If the time comes and I am ready for it, I’ll step up. I know one day I am going to be a world champion. It’s not about beating that one fighter; it’s beating them every time out and staying on top.”
For now, Andrade is well within his rights to fight in a way that will not only keep his undefeated record intact, but to approach fights by keeping the bigger picture of his health and other factors in mind.
“I know you’re supposed to please the crowd, but at this stage of my life, I need to worry about winning and getting to the top,” Andrade told ESPN a while back. “If the crowd wants me to go out there and bang out…then they need to go watch somebody else."
Valle added: “If you’re lucky to have a great career, you might be in it for 10, maybe 12 years. You have to learn how to be a great person after boxing: Life goes on.”
February 7, 2012
