Had Demetrius Andrade been paid the purse he initially thought he was guaranteed, the American southpaw gladly would’ve fought England’s Zach Parker in Parker’s home country.
Once his purse of nearly $1.2 million was slashed to barely 15 percent of what it once was, that math made little sense to Andrade, who therefore passed on an opportunity to box Parker for the WBO interim super middleweight title November 5. That decision extended Andrade’s layoff to over a year, as the former WBO middleweight champion hasn’t fought since he knocked out Ireland’s Jason Quigley in the second round of their 160-pound title fight in November 2021 at SNHU Arena in Manchester, New Hampshire.
Andrade (31-0, 19 KOs) is preparing to return to the ring January 7, but the Providence, Rhode Island native is still perplexed by those that have criticized him for not fighting Parker after a second purse bid brought his purse down to $183,000.
“You got individuals that are brilliant,” Andrade told BoxingScene.com. “You got individuals that very much like don’t actually have a clue. You got battle fans that is only careless in regards to things. I won’t go battle about in this person’s country for $150,000, when we should battle whenever I first should make like $1-point-something [million]. Because of injury, I simply required some additional time, very much like assuming it would’ve happened to another person. That is simply not occurring.”
Andrade initially was because of make $1,192,132.50 for confronting Parker. As the WBO middleweight champion who climbed in weight for their ordered match, he was qualified for 65% of Queensberry Advancements’ triumphant bid of $1,834,050.
Parker-Andrade was planned for May 21 in Derby, Britain, yet it was deferred on the grounds that Andrade supported a shoulder injury while preparing. When their battle was deferred, one more tote bid was planned, after Andrade was not generally advanced by Matchroom Boxing, which at first bid $1,750,000.
Queensberry won the subsequent satchel bid with a proposal of just $305,000. Matchroom didn’t take part in the second Andrade-Parker satchel bid, nor did some other advertiser.
Andrade’s adjusted 60-percent cut from that winning bid would’ve been $183,000.
Though the Andrade-Parker winner would’ve become a mandatory challenger for one of Canelo Alvarez’s four super middleweight titles, Andrade realized Alvarez still might not have fought him. The Mexican superstar previously stated that he would never fight Andrade and called him a “horrible” fighter.
“It was crazy,” Andrade said. “And then, on top of that, people think because it was for the interim WBO [title] that was supposed to guarantee me a Canelo fight. No, it doesn’t. It does not guarantee me a Canelo fight. Only Canelo will make that clear. Yes or no? And his favorite word is ‘horrible.’ Undefeated, 31-0, 2008 Olympian – anyway.”
Parker (22-1, 16 KOs) instead fought fellow Brit John Ryder (32-5, 18 KOs), who topped Parker by fifth-round technical knockout because Parker suffered a hand injury November 26 at O2 Arena in London.
The 34-year-old Andrade will make his super middleweight debut against Demond Nicholson (26-4-1, 22 KOs) on January 7 in Washington, D.C. Their 10-round bout will be part of the Gervonta Davis-Hector Luis Garcia undercard at Capital One Arena (Showtime Pay-Per-View; $74.99).
