Via Barry Holbrook: Frank Warren’s Queensbury promotion won Thursday’s auction for a match between Demetrius Andrade and Zach Parker, higher than Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing/DAZN match.
The Andrade-Parker bout is scheduled for May 21 in the UK, giving Parker the edge on undefeated (22-0, 16 KOs) in the fight over his boxing fans. .
As for Warren’s Queensbury Promotion, it’s the second time in a row they’ve outbid Hearn for a key fight. Warren recently hit the field with a win to host a Tyson Fury vs Dillian Whyte bout on April 23.
That had to be a dagger in the heart for Hearn to lose, as it would be a huge fight for him to join DAZN to attract UK subscribers.
Matchroom/DAZN is likely to save their money on the huge two-on-one contract they will give superstar Canelo Alvarez to face Dmitry Bivol in May and Gennadiy Golovkin in September.
We’re probably talking about the nearly $90 million Canelo will get for that two-man fight deal with Hearn. With spending like that, it’s no surprise that Hearn has fallen short on his last two bids.
Warren’s winning bid: $1,834,050 beat Hearn’s $1,750,000 bid. The split is 65/35 in Andrade’s favor, giving him a nice day’s pay of $1,192,132.
For her part, the undefeated WBO Parker tennis player will receive $641,918. Andrade, a former two-division world champion, has more experience than Parker.
In theory, this fight is a mismatch, but you never know. The 27-year-old Parker is a natural super middleweight, 33 years younger than Andrade, hitting harder, and will be fighting in front of his fans.
Another bid won! 🙌
Roll #ParkerAndrade! 🇬🇧🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/9jt9ybBX2r
– Frank Warren (@frankwarren_tv) February 24, 2022
This fight is about Andrade and Parker trying to put themselves in a position to challenge the WBO super middleweight champion, Canelo Alvarez.
Unfortunately, winner Andrade-Parker will not be guaranteed a title against superstar Canelo, as their fight is not a title elimination. It’s only for WBO’s 168-lb interim title.
There’s a great chance Canelo will vacate the WBO belt at some point, meaning the winner of the Andrade vs Parker fight will be elevated to outright champion when that happens.
Canelo has made it clear with his comments that he has no intention of fighting southern slick Andrade, and that’s why it’s likely we’ll see him give up the WBO 168 title- lb instead of defending it against the Americans.
Parker has great power, as we saw recently with the killing of Marcus Morrison and Sherzod Husanov.
Morrison is the fighter that Chris Eubank Jr had problems with in their first rounds last May. He was forced to go all 10 rounds to defeat Morrison in that skirmish.
In contrast, Parker wiped out Morrison, stopping him in four rounds last November.
Andrade will have to be careful that he doesn’t let Parker have his shot as he is a much bigger puncher than Liam Williams, whom Demetrius wrestled with in later rounds last April.
