Undefeated Demetrius “Boo Boo” Andrade successfully retained his WBO middleweight world title for the second time with a dominating twelfth-round unanimous decision over Maceij “Striczu” Sulecki, in which he won every single round on all three judges’ scorecards (120-107, 120-107, and 120-107). Immediately after the fight, Andrade called out WBC/WBA/IBF middleweight world champion Canelo Alvarez for a unification bout in September.
“Providence, Rhode Island, that is what I am talking about baby,” Andrade said after the fight. “Sulecki was a great fighter. A top ten guy, he came after it all night and let me utilize my tools. I gave people another great twelve-rounds of boxing. I used by jab. Sulecki is no pushover. He ain’t no Steve Rolls, ain’t no Rock Fielding. So Canelo, where your cajones at? Let’s get it.”
This ten-bout fight card, “Homecoming” was promoted by Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing USA from the Dunkin’ Donuts Center in Providence, Rhode Island with 7,136 fans in attendance. It was televised on DAZN in the United States and on Sky Sports in the United Kingdom.
“Forget the WBC shit. Whatever that ‘Franchise’ belt is. Let’s go, Canelo. Let’s unify this division. Let’s have one champion,” said Andrade. “It is right here. Let’s do it. No more running, no more games. Let’s put it all on the line and see who is the best Mano y mano. Vita Mexico!
After Andrade’s sensational performance against Sulecki, Canelo, who had expressed a strong interest in facing Andrade on September 14th, might have second thoughts, and decide to move up to the light heavyweight division to face WBO world titleholder Sergey Kovalev.
Andrade got off to a strong start as he aggressively attacked Sulecki and staggered him with a left hook and then knocked him down via a left hook to the top of his head, about a minute into the fight. Sulecki was not hurt and easily got up but Andrade pummeled him for the rest of the round. After the first, Andrade decided to box instead of getting into a war with Sulecki.
Throughout the fight, Andrade out-threw and out-landed Sulecki. He displayed a stinging jab and hard combinations from all different angles in which Sulecki had no answer for. Andrade continued to get the better of the combinations due to his faster hands and connected on three times as many power shots as Sulecki. Andrade also demonstrated amazing defense in which Sulecki only landed four punches per round and none of those shots were effective at turning the fight around.
Andrade dominated the CompuBox punch statistics as he landed more punches than Sulecki (133 to 51) threw more (496 to 331), and had a better connect percentage (27 to 15). He also landed more jabs (39 to 15) and more power shots (94 to 36). Sulecki connected a paltry 4.25 punches per round and never landed more than seven shots in a round. He only connected on one punch in the fifth-round. Andrade’s defense has been so good that his last four opponents have landed single digit punches per round for the last forty-eight consecutive rounds.
He had one of his best performances of his career, and was able to do it in front of his hometown fans for the first time in his eleven-year professional career. He improved to 28-0, 17 KOs and fought for the third time in the last eight months, which is an extremely active pace for him when he was consistently fighting once a year for the last several years. Sulecki dropped to 28-2, 11 KOs. He had his two bout winning streak stopped.
In the co-feature bout, former heavyweight world titleholder Joseph Parker scored a tenth-round technical knockout over late replacement Alex “The Lionheart” Leapai as referee Ricky Gonzalez had determined that Leapai had taken enough punishment after being badly staggered by two hard right hooks, and wisely stopped the one-sided bout at two minutes and eighteen seconds, to Leapai’s dismay.
Parker dominated this fight in brutal fashion as he out landed Leapai (198 to 42) by an almost five to one margin. He landed pretty much whatever he wanted on a defenseless Leapai who tried his best to cover up.
Parker displayed a strong jab and powerful combinations that Leapai had no answer for. He staggered Leapai on several occasions throughout this bout, however, Leapai demonstrated a rock solid chin, and somehow did not go down despite taking a great deal of punishment. Parker improved to 26-2, 20 KOs. He has won two in a row since he sustained back-to-back losses last year to former world titleholder Anthony Joshua and top ten fighter Dillian Whtye. This was his first fight in the United States in five-years. Leapai dropped to 32-8-4, 26 KOs. He lost for the first time in four bouts.
Khalid “Kal” Yafai scored a twelve-round unanimous decision (119-107, 118-108, and 117-109) over his mandatory challenger Norbelto “Meneito” Jimenez. Yafai successfully retained his WBA super flyweight title for the fifth time despite perforating both of his eardrums in the bout. He improved his undefeated record to 26-0, 15 KOs. Jimenez dropped to 29-9-4, 16 KOs, in his first fight in a year. He lost for the first time in thirty-one bouts, and for the second time he was unable to win a world title.
Yafai controlled the first five-rounds as he aggressively stalked Jimenez and out landed him. He used his quicker hands to get the better of the exchanges and connected on the harder punches throughout the fight. Yafai landed a hard right hook that badly staggered Jimenez in the second-round. Jimenez had a point deducted in the fourth for excessive holding. Yafai had a big seventh-round as he buckled Jimenez’s knees. Jimenez boxed much better in the last couple of rounds as he finally let his hands go more consistently. He landed some big shots at the end of the ninth, but Yafai rebounded and controlled the fight for the last couple of rounds. Yafai scored a flash knockdown in the twelfth. Yafai was booed loudly at the end of the fight due to his excessive low blows which put Jimenez on the canvas multiple times in the second half of the fight, including in the sixth-round in which Jimenez was in a great amount of pain and needed a couple of minutes to recover.
Alexis Espino obtained a sensational second-round technical knockout over Kerby Saint-Juste as referee Eddie Claudio stopped the bout at one minute and forty-nine seconds after Saint-Juste was knocked down for the third time. It was a competitive first-round until Espino dropped Saint-Juste towards the end of the round from a left, right hook to the head. The highly touted super middleweight scored two additional knockdowns in the second-round both from left hooks to the head. Espino upped his record to 3-0, 2 KOs. Saint-Juste, who was making his professional debut, fell to 0-1.
IBA and NABA world super welterweight champion Mark “Bazooka” Deluca defeated Brandon “Lumberjack” Brewer via a ten-round unanimous decision (99-91, 98-92, and 97-93) in an action-packed slugfest, in which both fighters sustained cuts over their eyes which continued to bleed for the rest of their middleweight fight. Brewer obtained a cut over his left and right eye in the second and fourth-round, respectively, and Deluca sustained a cut over his right eye in the third. Deluca, who took the fight on two weeks’ notice, improved to 24-1, 13 KOs. He has won three in a row. Brewer lost for the first time as a professional, dropped to 23-1-1, 11 KOs.
Deluca, who had a large fan base that loudly cheered him on throughout the bout, controlled the fight with his effective jab and body work. He connected on the more powerful punches and had Brewer on wobbly legs in the second and fourth-round from hard hooks to the head. Deluca, who was looking for the knockout, came close, as he punished a tired looking Brewer for the last two rounds.
Otha “OJ III” Jones Jr. dominated Matias “El Huracan” Augustin Arriagada over six one-sided rounds en route to a unanimous decision (60-54, 60-54, and 60-54), in which he won every round on all three judges’ scorecards. Jones was the more active fighter as he out-threw, and out landed Arriagada, and connected on the harder shots, especially in the second half of their lightweight bout. Arriagada absorbed a great deal of punishment, however, he somehow did not go down, and continued to fight hard despite being outclassed. The lightweight prospect, who won last week, upped his record to 3-0, 1 KO. Arriagada fell to 6-5, 3 KOs.
Former 2018 National Golden Gloves Champion and 2017 Ringside World Champion, Raymond “Savage” Ford made quick work of Isidro Figueroa as he dropped him via a right hook to the body and referee Claudio counted Figueroa out at one minute and twenty-eight seconds in the first-round as he was not going to get up. Ford, a twenty-year-old featherweight prospect that has an extremely bright future ahead of him, improved to 3-0, 1 KO with the knockout win. Figueroa dropped to 1-1.
Shelly “Shelito’s Way” Vincent beat Simone Da Silva en route to an eight-round unanimous decision (79-73, 78-74, and 78-74). Vincent out-worked and out landed Da Silva and got the better of the exchanges. Vincent upped her record to 25-2, 1 KO. She has won two in a row. Vincent announced after the fight that this was her last bout, which will end her eight-year professional career, in which she fought for two featherweight world titles (came up short to Heather Hardy both times), and significantly helped to advance women’s boxing, especially in the New England area. Her boxing accomplishments were made all the more impressive since she did not start to box until she was thirty-two-years-old. Da Silva fell to 16-13, 6 KOs.
Middleweight Anthony Concepcion kept his undefeated record intact as he knocked out Yasmani Pedroso at two minutes and two seconds in the first-round. Concepcion dropped Pedroso via a hard right hook to the body and Pedroso was unable to beat the ten-count. Concepcion improved to 4-0, 4 KOs and has yet to go beyond the second-round. He trained in Andrade’s camp. Pedroso dropped to 2-7, 1 KO.
Anthony “A1” Marsella Jr. scored a crushing third-round technical knockout over Jose Aubel as the referee stopped the one-sided super lightweight fight after Aubel went down for the fourth time at one minute and sixteen seconds in the third-round. Marsella knocked down Aubel once in the first, again in the second, and twice in the third via hard body shots. Marsella upped his unbeaten record to 13-0, 7 KOs. Aubel fell to 8-5, 7 KOs. This bout took place after the main event.
