Demetrius Andrade vs. Zach Parker - OFF

[Ruthless-RKO]

Demetrius Andrade-Zach Parker Back In Play In Lieu Of Mandatory Title Defense

Demetrius Andrade is considering a path that could lead to a third divisional title while ending his current reign.

There remains a glimmer of hope that he could have his cake and eat it, too.

Three sources have confirmed to Boxing Scene that Providence’s Andrade (31-0, 19KOs) is revisiting plans for a super middleweight showdown with England’s Zach Parker in lieu of a mandatory WBO middleweight title defense. Andrade is currently on the hook to next face Kazakhstan’s Janibek Alimkhanuly (11-0, 7KOs) in a WBO-ordered title, with a purse bid currently scheduled to take place this Friday at WBO headquarters in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

A fight with Parker would serve as an interim title fight with the WBO’s blessings, which calls several factors into play.

Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix was the first to reveal—via social media—the development of Andrade-Parker returning to the forefront.

The mandatory middleweight title fight has already seen three purse bid delays, with the WBO having first ordered the bout last November 30. Andrade explored all along the possibility of a super middleweight fight with Parker, who is presently the WBO mandatory challenger to undisputed 168-pound king Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez (57-1-2, 39KOs). The WBO was originally on board with making an interim title available, while allowing Alvarez to explore his next fight.

That agreement, however, came with a deadline which Andrade failed to meet. The WBO acted in kind, calling for a January 14 purse bid hearing. The matter was delayed by six days, only for the schedule January 20 session to suffer two postponements in the same day—first by three hours, then for a full eight days due to an in-office staff member testing positive for Covid.

Friday’s hearing will likely be cancelled outright, though still working out in Andrade's favor and without the immediate hassle of an interim title fight.

Andrade-Alimkhanuly was formally ordered shortly after both participants scored knockout wins one day apart last November. Andrade—a two-division and reigning WBO middleweight titlist—has been represented in talks by Matchroom Sport chairman Eddie Hearn, while Top Rank and manager Egis Klimas are negotiating on behalf of Alimkhanuly.

Andrade registered the fifth defense of his WBO middleweight title with a second-round knockout of Ireland’s Jason Quigley in a DAZN-streamed main event last November 19 at SNHU Arena in Manchester, New Hampshire. After the fight, the Providence-bred southpaw, who was fighting less than an hour from his hometown, called for bigger fights. Singled out were unbeaten former WBO junior middleweight titlist Jaime Munguia (38-0, 30KOs) and IBF titlist Gennadiy Golovkin (41-1-1, 36KOs), both of whom also fight on DAZN.

Golovkin remains locked into a title unification clash with WBA claimant Ryota Murata, awaiting a new date as their planned December 29 clash was canceled due to Covid-related travel restriction for visitors entering Japan. Munguia was previously the mandatory challenger for Andrade’s title but has instead taken a stay-busy fight versus unbeaten middleweight D’Mitrius Ballard (21-0-1, 13KOs), set for February 19 in his hometown of Tijuana.

That left the sanctioning body to declare Alimkhanuly as its mandatory. The unbeaten middleweight did his part to keep his place in line, stopping former secondary titlist Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam in the eighth round of their preliminary bout on a November 20 ESPN+ Pay-Per-View show at Michelob ULTRA Arena in Las Vegas. The win came five months after battering former secondary titleholder Rob Brant also in eight rounds last June.

Andrade and Alimkhanuly were given until December 20 to work out a deal, only for that period to lapse without the two sides coming to terms. A purse bid hearing was called during the year-end holiday season, though there was still time for an eleventh-hour deal to avoid that route.

Andrade instead sought the option of campaigning in his third weight division. His first fight would come versus Parker, though with the long-term goal of landing a long-desired showdown with Alvarez who Andrade has chased since the two shared overlapping middleweight title reigns.

Parker has been waiting on a title shot since the pandemic, having advanced to the top contender spot following an eleventh-round stoppage of Rohan Murdock in March 2020. The 27-year-old Brit—who is managed by Neil Marsh and fights under allegedly’s Queensberry Promotions banner—has since fought three times, most recently in a fourth-round stoppage of Marcus Morrison last November in Birmingham, England.

In the off chance that Friday’s purse bid hearing proceeds as planned, it will be open to all WBO-registered promoters. The minimum accepted bid is $200,000 for the fight, with Andrade to receive 75% of the winning bid as the defending titlist. The remaining 25% will go to Alimkhanuly as the mandatory challenger.

Should the WBO rule that Andrade be forced to relinquish his title to face Parker for an interim belt at super middleweight, Alimkhanuly would be ordered to face the next highest-ranked available challenger.

Currently occupying that spot is Esquiva Falcao (29-0, 23KOs), a 2012 Olympic Silver medalist from Brazil who also fights under the Top Rank banner. Falcao is also the number-one contender to Golovkin’s IBF belt, earning that slot following a technical unanimous decision win over unbeaten Patrice Volny on the same ESPN+ PPV show that housed Alikkhanuly’s knockout win over N’Dam last November.

An alternate plan would be for the WBO to approve two interim title fights—Andrade-Parker at super middleweight and Alimkhanuly-Falcao at middleweight.

[maverick23]

Strange one. Andrade will get criticised for fighting Parker as he’s another no-name for the US market. In reality I think it’s a good fight although my concern for Parker is that he’s not had the quality of opponents needed TL prepare him properly for someone like Andrade.

If it goes to purse bids then the split will be something like 50/50 given Parker’s ranking and given Matchroom/Queensberry’s difficulty working together I think either Parker stands to be extremely well paid for it or Matchroom stop working with Andrade as it won’t do much business for them in the US.

[mickey1975]

Parker is a lot better than people know. This might not be the wisest move for him, though.

[maverick23]

Parker is a lot better than people know. This might not be the wisest move for him, though.

I think he’s a good fighter and Frank’s down well keeping him active. It just reminds me a little a bit of when Williams fought Andrade - if Williams had fought better opposition in the 18 months pre Andrade then he would have had a better chance.

Vaughn Alexander/Sherzod Huzanov/Marcus Morrison is poor prep for a world title fight.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Parker is a lot better than people know. This might not be the wisest move for him, though.

I think he’s a good fighter and Frank’s down well keeping him active. It just reminds me a little a bit of when Williams fought Andrade - if Williams had fought better opposition in the 18 months pre Andrade then he would have had a better chance.

Vaughn Alexander/Sherzod Huzanov/Marcus Morrison is poor prep for a world title fight.

Yeh, Frank's boxers are just not well prepared before stepping up are they..

[Ruthless-RKO]

[brilo33]

andrade ko for me i dont know how parker gets a shot seems a bit early for him , i think he will fair better than Quigley just i dont think he is good enough yet andrade underrated how good he is , liam williams is very good fighter that first fight with liam smith another tough good fighter ,a fight i had liam winning till the eye and i think it has taken him awhile to comeback from that, parker inexperienced will cost him get caught early throwing bangers, but he is a live dog in the race thats for sure

[CaptainSpacerod]

Is Andrade ever gonna fight a live opponent

[brilo33]

Is Andrade ever gonna fight a live opponent

i think he would if he had the chance, the bjs fight nearly happened and that was a near 50\50

[Blueprint]

Winner will be mandatory for Canelo or elevated if canelo vacates?

[JxhDel.]

It will be fun watching BooBoo sprinting around to find an opening, Parker has shown he can use his reach well with vicious body shots.

[brilo33]

It will be fun watching BooBoo sprinting around to find an opening, Parker has shown he can use his reach well with vicious body shots.

hasnt shown it against quailty like this man tho , i think if parker won this fight it would be a huge win

[daz74]

Warren on IFL, didn’t seem confident re negotiations, hinted at purse bid …..

[Ruthless-RKO]

Warren on IFL, didn’t seem confident re negotiations, hinted at purse bid …..

Franks on a hot streak with purse bids.

Although a chunk of the last one was from Arum.

[Ruthless-RKO]

WBO have agreed an extension for talks.

[Polidori]

Warren on IFL, didn’t seem confident re negotiations, hinted at purse bid …..

Do you think it will get any decent bids?

Andrade is dull beyond belief in the ring (and devoid of charisma out of it) and Parker is completely unknown outside the UK.

[maverick23]

Warren on IFL, didn’t seem confident re negotiations, hinted at purse bid …..

Do you think it will get any decent bids?

Andrade is dull beyond belief in the ring (and devoid of charisma out of it) and Parker is completely unknown outside the UK.

I’d be surprised if it goes crazy. Andrade doesn’t put bums on seats and him against another Brit who is likely unknown to the US market isn’t going to drive subs in the US. Plus Parker isn’t a big name over here so it’s not going to drive DAZN subs in the U.K. either.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Warren on IFL, didn’t seem confident re negotiations, hinted at purse bid …..

Do you think it will get any decent bids?

Andrade is dull beyond belief in the ring (and devoid of charisma out of it) and Parker is completely unknown outside the UK.

I’d be surprised if it goes crazy. Andrade doesn’t put bums on seats and him against another Brit who is likely unknown to the US market isn’t going to drive subs in the US. Plus Parker isn’t a big name over here so it’s not going to drive DAZN subs in the U.K. either.

If Matchroom win the bids, it’ll will go any way.

Can have it at the Dunkin’ Donuts Arena in Rhode Island where Andrade can sell tickets to home fans. Even then to help appeal to UK DAZN subs, they can do it like the Williams fight and have the main event around 11pm UK time, so it’s not too late.

Or Matchroom can have it in a UK, prime time slot..

But then how big of a ticket seller is Parker?

[Polidori]

I’d be surprised if it goes crazy. Andrade doesn’t put bums on seats and him against another Brit who is likely unknown to the US market isn’t going to drive subs in the US. Plus Parker isn’t a big name over here so it’s not going to drive DAZN subs in the U.K. either.

I don't know why Andrade is going down this route, he's probably hoping that it will eventually lead to a Canelo payday but that's never going to happen is it?

He'd be better off staying at 160 and either chasing a fight with Eubank or a unification with Charlo, instead he'll end up fighting Parker in front of 1500 punters at Edgbaston Stadium for peanuts.

[Ruthless-RKO]

“Please be advised that on February 15, 2022, this Committee issued order scheduling purse bid proceedings considering that the parties herein could not reach an agreement as ordered,” Luis Batista-Salas, chairman of the WBO Championship Committee stated to Matchroom Boxing’s Eddie Hearn (Andrade) and Queensberry Promotions’ allegedly (Parker) in an official letter, a copy of which was obtained by BS.com. “Kindly note that this Committee’s ruling stands and purse bid proceedings will be conducted as scheduled. Wherefore, as per Section 11 through 14 of the WBO Regulations for World Championship Contests (www.wboboxing.com), please be advised that a Purse Bid will be held at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time (EST) on Thursday, February [24], 2022.”

[garethhop]

Very interested to see what happens here. How much will DAZN want to pay for this in reality?

Possibility of Frank winning, Andrade withdrawing and Zach Parker fighting for a vacant nonsense belt?

[peter barlow]

Not sure it really matters who wins, it's not a fight that will do big business or attract much interest here or in the US. Zach Parker is unknown and fought nobody of note. And Andrade has failed to unify and fight the top fighters.

[maverick23]

Will be interesting to see what happens. I don’t think Andrade has vacated the middleweight belt yet as the WBO ordered an interim fight.

65/35 split in the Andrade purse bid against Parker. I reckon the winning bid will be something like $1 - $1.5m.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Will be interesting to see what happens. I don’t think Andrade has vacated the middleweight belt yet as the WBO ordered an interim fight.

65/35 split in the Andrade purse bid against Parker. I reckon the winning bid will be something like $1 - $1.5m.

That’s correct.

WBO said after he 168 debut, he will then need to decide what he wants to do.

[gregregegg]

Will be interesting to see what happens. I don’t think Andrade has vacated the middleweight belt yet as the WBO ordered an interim fight.

65/35 split in the Andrade purse bid against Parker. I reckon the winning bid will be something like $1 - $1.5m.

That’s correct.

WBO said after he 168 debut, he will then need to decide what he wants to do.

So they let him duck a mandatory, dont strip him, and give him a title shot. Fuk thats dumb.