Demetrius Andrade vs Billy Joe Saunders

[Rgoodwin]

Recently ordered by the WBO. Who wins and how?

[Enlightened-One]

Before I answer the question being posed, let me remind everyone of a few interesting points:

• 30th August 2018 - Saunders failed a VADA drug test
• 2nd November 2018 - Saunders suspended for six months by the WBO
• 22nd December 2018 - Saunders stops Charles Adamu (less than four months after failed test & less than two months after the announcement of the ban)
• 22nd January 2019 - The WBO orders Demetrius Andrade to defend his world title against Demetrius Andrade (less than five months after failed test & less than three months after the announcement of the ban)

It seems that the duration of a suspension doesn’t really mean much nowadays, especially if a fighter agrees to behave like any other normal person would. Perhaps the WBO decided to do this to avoid a potential lawsuit rather than due to the Brit's good behaviour?

To be perfectly honest, I always believed that Billy Joe Saunders shouldn’t have been suspended in the first place, because UKAD, USADA & the BBBofC wouldn’t have banned Billy Joe Saunders (based on WADA's very own rules). And the MSAC wouldn’t have prevented the Saunders-Andrade bout if they applied their own rules consistently, by adhering to the WADA code.

Anyway, Andrade clearly didn't fancy this fight early last year and I supplied a video of him to this forum saying he's not ready to face the Brit yet.

Andrade’s amateur pedigree cannot be questioned, but his lack of activity and relatively poor calibre of opposition in the pro ranks does make me wonder whether he’s not quite as good as advertised by the proverbial hype train, because he has also previously rejected opportunities to engage in marquee bouts in the past… And that’s solely on him, rather than being “ducked”.

And this situation hasn’t changed, despite Andrade recently capturing the vacant WBO world title by defeating Walter Kautondokwa and then making a first successful defence against Artur Akavov, both of whom are unheralded and unrated opponents.

When I watch various YouTube videos of Andrade’s American peers, they all claim they’re expecting Saunders to be comprehensively out-boxed by Demtetrius. We also know that many people from this forum considered the Brit as being the underdog against the likes of Eubank Jr, Lee, Khurtsidze, Monroe Jr and Lemieux.

So my “head” tells me to expect Andrade to score a close (perhaps even moderately controversial) decision victory over Saunders on US shores, perhaps due to the judges favouring the hometown fighter.

My “heart” is almost telling me the same thing, because Billy Joe has a proven track-record of raising his game according to the calibre of opposition he’s faced. So Saunders could “earn” a victory on the scorecards, but whether he’ll be given it or not is an entirely different subject matter.

I believe that Billy Joe is a physically big, though not particularly tall, 160lb-er who has faced better opposition in the pro ranks than Demetrius Andrade has. And I feel that the Brit might have a little too much for the American (in terms of experience, skill, size and grit).

It’s a good 50-50 type fight on paper, but I’m expecting Andrade to gain a controversial hometown decision victory, with the American’s supporters endorsing the outcome by citing the age-old proverbial “you have to take the belt from the champion” myth.

There’s a lot of money riding on the outcome of this fight, because the winner will be in line to face the victor between Canelo and Jacobs. So the most lucrative and politically preferable result for DAZN (and the WBO,) would be a victory for their own fighter, Demetrius Andrade.

If Saunders wins, in order for Canelo (or Jacobs) to unify the 160lbs belts, this opens the door for a potential ESPN pay-per-view, because Billy Joe’s promoter (Queensberry) has an agreement in place with Top Rank to share/provide boxing content with ESPN. Also, Eric Gomez and Oscar De La Hoya (GBP) have previously stated that they don’t want Canelo to face Saunders. And I doubt DAZN would allow their contracted fighter (Alvarez) to compete on a rival network.

If Demetrius wins, there are no obstacles for a potential title unification bout between Andrade and the eventual victor of Canelo and Jacobs, which would be televised by DAZN.

So the WBO may miss out on huge Canelo-sized sanctioning fees if the Brit somehow wins! Could that influence the outcome, since it's in the WBO's own best interests for the American to emerge victorous?

If you’re going to score the fight live via DAZN, I’d advise you to turn the volume down on your device to avoid being unduly influenced by the inevitably biased American commentary team.

That’s a fữckḯng long post, I know – I’m sorry! But I had a lot to say on this subject matter!

[Lackeos]

The WBO orders Demetrius Andrade to defend his world title against Demetrius Andrade

... so who are you picking?

[oogiebe]

BJS wide decision or late TKO.

[bigjack]

The WBO orders Demetrius Andrade to defend his world title against Demetrius Andrade

... so who are you picking?

I'm going for the draw as neither man possesses anything the other can't deal with

[Enlightened-One]

The WBO orders Demetrius Andrade to defend his world title against Demetrius Andrade

... so who are you picking?

I’m expecting Andrade to gain a controversial hometown decision victory, because it's in the best interest of the WBO to attempt to acquire Canelo-sized sanctioning fees.

[gilgamesh]

I feel like this'll be close either way. I'll favor Andrade slightly, but a BJS win would surprise me none.

[boxing_rocks]

In shape BJS beats Andrade easily.

[oogiebe]

In shape BJS beats Andrade easily.

That's how I see it.

[JohnMcMinn]

If you’re going to score the fight live via DAZN, I’d advise you to turn the volume down on your device to avoid being unduly influenced by the inevitably biased American commentary team.

Another good reason to turn down the volume would be to avoid the auditory Ambien that is Sugar Ray Leonard’s commentary.

I was unimpressed by Andrade’s performance against Akavov. I’d like to see him step it up against Saunders. Unfortunately, I think you’re correct in saying that Saunders couldn’t get a fair decision in the US.

[Ruthless-RKO]

If you’re going to score the fight live via DAZN, I’d advise you to turn the volume down on your device to avoid being unduly influenced by the inevitably biased American commentary team.

Another good reason to turn down the volume would be to avoid the auditory Ambien that is Sugar Ray Leonard’s commentary.

I was unimpressed by Andrade’s performance against Akavov. I’d like to see him step it up against Saunders. Unfortunately, I think you’re correct in saying that Saunders couldn’t get a fair decision in the US.

He got a fair decision in Canada. Although that was really one-sided.

[candyslim]

BJS wide decision or late TKO.

Agreed.

[Enlightened-One]

If you’re going to score the fight live via DAZN, I’d advise you to turn the volume down on your device to avoid being unduly influenced by the inevitably biased American commentary team.

Another good reason to turn down the volume would be to avoid the auditory Ambien that is Sugar Ray Leonard’s commentary.

I was unimpressed by Andrade’s performance against Akavov. I’d like to see him step it up against Saunders. Unfortunately, I think you’re correct in saying that Saunders couldn’t get a fair decision in the US.

He got a fair decision in Canada. Although that was really one-sided.

I think it’s in the WBO’s own best interests for Andrade to win this fight to create an opportunity to acquire Canelo’s sanctioning fees. So, any rounds that are relatively evenly-contested, with the bout also being staged on US soil, will inevitably be awarded to the champion.

I’d love to be proven wrong about this, but I feel that for Saunders to beat Andrade, he’d need to either dominate each round on the scorecards, to the point there cannot be any doubt, or alternatively score the KO.

I don’t normally buy into the idea of the sports' governing bodies behaving in corrupt manner, so this is me admitting to being hypocritical, but I can't help thinking that the WBO’s conduct recently has made me feel rather suspicious about the potential outcome of this fight.

Again, I’d be over-the-moon if my gut instinct is wrong about this, but we won't know for sure until Andrade and Saunders have fought.