Via Jim Calfa: The WBO ordered Demetrius Andrade and ranked No. 1 Zach Parker to begin negotiations on Friday to contest their interim super-middleweight title.
In addition to the winner being the WBO interim 168-lb champion, it is believed they could become a must-have for World Boxing Organization super-middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez.
Andrade, 33, has found that he has not been able to get any notable boxers at the age of 160 to go up against him in the past four years since winning his WBO title in 2018.
It’s safe to say that if Andrade had chosen to stay in the middleweight division, the situation would not have improved and he would have ended up losing his title to one of the lesser known fighters in the tournament.
Andrade’s decision to increase his weight to 168 gives him a bigger fighting chance against some of the top names in the league like Canelo, David Benavidez and Caleb Plant.
Demetrius Andrade wants Canelo
Andrade (31-0, 19 KOs) is vacating his 160-lb WBO title to move up to 168 with the intention of trying to take on Canelo, whom Demetrius hasn’t had a chance to fight in his 14-year career. his professional.
For many of those years, Andrade fought in the same weight class as Canelo, but he didn’t get a chance to fight him. Canelo showed no interest in fighting Demetrius.
The weight gain for former two-division world champion Demetrius, 33, will make it possible for him to trade off Zhanibek Alimkhanuly, who has ordered him to fight his next fight.
It will be an uphill fight for Southpaw Andrade but he still has a good chance of winning based on his experience and solid boxing skills.
Andrade has had recent wins against these fighters:
- Jason Quigley
- Liam Williams
- Luke Keeler
- Maciej Sulecki
- Artur Akavov
- Walter Kautondokwa
Zhanibek Alimkhanuly vs. Esquiva Falcao placed an order
As for Andrade’s vacated middleweight WBO title, the sanctioning authority has issued a mandatory order Zhanibek Alimkhanuly face to face Esquiva Falcao for the interim 160-lb WBO title.
It’s not clear why the WBO didn’t let Zhanibek vs Falcao fight for the full title at 160, but they have their reasons.
The only explanation for that is that Andrade may have chosen to keep his WBO middleweight belt in case he lost the match to Zach Parker at 168.
At least if Andrade still holds his WBO middleweight belt, he’ll have that back to back if the undefeated Parker beats him.
28-year-old Zhanibek (11-0.9 KOs) is from Kazakhstan and competed at the 2016 Olympics for his country. Since turning pro in 2016, Zhanibek, 5’11 1/2 , has beaten famous boxers Rob Brant and Hassan Ndam.
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