Demetrius Andrade makes the first defense of his WBO middleweight title Friday night at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden. He takes on Artur Akavov on a card that will be streamed on DAZN.
And "Boo Boo" Andrade -- who has had a rather star-crossed career, to say the least -- is just happy to be back in the ring just a few months after winning the belt against Walter Kautondokwa in October.
Coming into the business a decade ago as a highly touted prospect, big things were expected from this long, lanky southpaw. But while Andrade has remained undefeated and has now captured two major world titles (having won the WBO 154-pound title in the past) his career has been beset by promotional battles and lawsuits that have kept him sidelined for long stretches.
"I had the [short] end of the stick for a long time but I can always see the bigger picture. If I look to quit through that, I can't inspire or motivate others. I'm undefeated, 2008 Olympian, and everyone has their time and obstacles to get over," Andrade said.
But to be fair, most of these wounds have been self-inflicted.
A few years ago Andrade (26-0, 16 KOs) signed a deal with Roc Nation Sports, while still being co-promoted by Banner Promotions and Star Boxing, which then sued Roc Nation for interfering in their contract. That litigation is still ongoing to this day. His relationship with his original co-promoters was always an uneasy union and finally Andrade bought out his contract this past summer and signed with promoter Eddie Hearn, who brought him over to DAZN. It was a divorce that was a long time coming.
For Andrade, 30, it provided an opportunity to reset his career.
"Eddie is keeping me active and he knows that the more active I am the better the fighter I am," said Andrade, a native of Providence, Rhode Island. "Eddie wants to make a statement, show people that the way it's done in the U.K. is how it should be done in the U.S., he's young and I am too -- we have the same hunger, he wants to be the top promoter and I want to be the top fighter. Knowing I can be one of the leading fighters on DAZN and they are doing a great job all around."
In 2014, 2015 and 2016, Andrade performed just once per year. In the past four years, he has fought just a total of six times. He was out of sight, out of mind, as far as the boxing world was concerned. It didn't help his cause that even in his victories over the likes of Jack Culcay and Alantez Fox, he was far from electrifying. The problem with Andrade has been that too many times he has teased us with his talent but never consistently delivered.
The plan is to keep Andrade as busy as possible and in the eyes of the public as he builds his case to take on the marquee middleweights.
He was originally scheduled to face the respected Billy Joe Saunders in the fall before Saunders failed a prefight drug test and then vacated the title. A victory over the British southpaw would have carried much more weight than his dominant win over Kautondokwa, who was floored four times by Andrade over the course of 12 rounds.
"I'm still clearing my path now, everything good in my way stays and everything bad has got to be moved. I'm happy to be back in so fast; I could have had a tuneup fight or even two and not signed up to fight Billy Joe Saunders for the title, but I have been in the game too long and it's my time to shine now, so I am not going to stop," Andrade promised.
He now has a belt, but what Andrade doesn't have is the much-needed buzz that will entice the likes of Canelo Alvarez, Daniel Jacobs or Gennady Golovkin to face him. Currently, he is the very definition of high-risk/low-reward.
Akavov (19-2, 8 KOs) isn't a bad fighter -- he actually gave Saunders a decent fight back in December 2016 -- but the truth of the matter is that for Andrade this is just a stay-busy fight to kick off 2019.
It beats being dormant, which has been the case for Andrade in recent years.
The question is, can he now get out of his own way?
"I'm not satisfied," Andrade said. "I've always been at the top but now I'm growing in the top of the mainstream. The boxing world knows I'm the baddest man out there, but not having the right promotion behind me putting me out there has hurt me and that's why I've made the changes, and Matchroom and DAZN know what I can bring and they can move me to the next level. My job is to win."