Demetrius ‘Boo Boo’ Andrade says he views Canelo Alvarez as showing signs of being a “Coward” with him, saying he won’t fight him. Instead, he chooses to face weak fighters in Rocky Fielding, Avni Yildirim, Billy Joe Saunders, and Callum Smith.
The unbeaten former two-division world champion Andrade (30-0, 18 KOs) showed up at Canelo’s post-fight press conference last Saturday night in Arlington, Texas, to call him out.
Canelo then tore into Andrade, saying he’s not a good fighter. He fights no one and then said, ‘Get the f*** out of here.”
Like many people, Andrade is confused about why Canelo (56-1-2, 38 KOs) is willing to fight mediocre fighters like Saunders, Yildirim, Callum, and Fielding but not him.
The only thing that Andrade can come up with as a rationale for why Canelo is choosing to face lesser opposition than him is he’s a “coward.”
A large percentage of fans don’t see Canelo as necessarily a coward, but rather a calculated ‘cherry-picker,’ who makes sure he selects fighters that he absolutely knows he can beat 100% certainty.
When Canelo isn’t sure that he can win, they’re ignored entirely, which might be the reason why Andrade, David Benavidez, Jermall Charlo, Artur Beterbiev, Carlos Gongora, and Dimitry Bivol have been unable to get a fight with him.
Andrade labels Canelo a coward
“He’s a coward, he’s a coward,’ said Andrade to DAZN Boxing Show on Canelo Alvarez ducking him. “you give people the opportunity to fight for a legacy, but I can’t do that?
“That’s coward, bro. You fight Rocky Fielding. What has he done for the sport of boxing? Yildirim, what did he do for the sport of boxing?
“Callum Smith, he fought a bunch of old guys, won a championship [against a washed-up George Groves], and then he’s someone that is supposed to be getting in there with Canelo.
“What did Billy Joe do to get that fight [with Canelo]? You went 12 rounds with [38-year-old] Martin Murray and couldn’t get him out of there?
“I’m not talking about that. I’m a champion,” said Andrade when the DAZN host came to Callum Smith’s defense by saying that he was a champion [i.e., belt holder] when Canelo fought him.
“The excuse [for Canelo] that I don’t fight anybody; I tried to fight Billy Joe, I tried to go up to 168 to make the Billy Joe fight. What did Billy Joe say? ‘I’d rather fight Andrade than wait until May to fight Canelo.’
“It was all smoke and mirrors to get the, to use leverage, to make more money to make the deal happen and get whatever they’re going to get,” said Andrade.
You can definitely say that Canelo is very, very calculated about the guys he faces. Andre Ward said it a couple of years ago in making his opinion on why Canelo chose to face a wash-up Sergey Kovalev rather than the unbeaten IBF/WBC 175-lb champion Artur Beterbiev by saying that the Mexicans star takes “calculated risks” rather than “stupid” ones.
In other words, Canelo selectively chooses his opponents and isn’t like the boxing greats of the past, who took on fighters that could potentially beat them.
When the late Salvador Sanchez took on Azumah Nelson and knockout artist Wilfredo Gomez, those were fights that were considered 50-50 affairs, and yet he still took them. We haven’t seen the same kind of risk-taking from Canelo. He’s more of a Floyd Mayweather Jr type of calculated risk-taker.
Demetrius says he’d have beaten Saunders
“They [Saunders] used my name as leverage to make the deal happen,” said Demetrius by Billy Joe, making it appear that he wanted to fight him before signing to face Canelo instead.
“If me and Billy Joe had fought, I feel that I have the confidence and the ability to beat him,” Andrade continued.
“If you’re going to bet me, then beat me because you’re going to make way more fighting Canelo next because now you really fought somebody.
“For me, now I really fought somebody. I fought Billy Joe. So I tried to make that happen, but Canelo shut that down because he’s the pound-for-pound guy, and he has the luxury of doing those types of things.
“Because it’s an easier path to fight Billy Joe,” Andrade said when asked why Canelo fought Saunders rather than him. “You look at Billy Joe’s last fight, and you look at my last fight.
“My opponent [Liam Wiliams] would trash [38-year-old] Martin Murray. He’d have probably gotten Martin Murray out in a few rounds.
“Billy Joe couldn’t even get Martin Murray out of there. He looked sluggish, he looked like s***, and you think that’s a guy that is going to beat up Canelo?” said Andrade.
It goes without saying that Andrade would have beaten Billy Joe Saunders if he’d been in the ring with him last Saturday.
Saunders has no power. He’s slow and sluggish since moving up to the 168-lb division in 2019. He looked like he’s fighting at roughly 50% capacity of the fighter he used to be eight years ago.
At this point in Saunder’s career, he’d lose to approximately ten of the top super middleweights. He’s very average. You can argue that Saunders would lose to all these fighters:
- Carlos Gongora
- David Benavidez
- Edgar Berlanga
- Gennadiy Golovkin
- Jermall Charlo
- Demtrius Andrade
- Caleb Plant
- Daniel Jacobs
- David Morrell
- Anthony Dirrell
- Bektemir Melikuziev
Andrade: Canelo is fighting all these European guys but not me
“But as far as the excuse [Canelo came up with] not to get in the ring with me, to call me a horrible fighter, say, ‘I would never get in a fight with you,’ That’s coward s***,” said Andrade.
“When you’re willing to give these European guys [Callum Smith, Rocky fielding, Sergey Kovalev, and Billy Joe Saunders] that have nothing to do with the United States, they can get it, but we can’t.
“Truth be told, that’s an easier fight [for Canelo]. What am I supposed to do by continuing to get in the ring, fighting people, and being told that I don’t fight nobody when I do make approaches.
“I be trying to do this, but when I do it, I got to hear a backlash,” Andrade said.
There’s obviously a reason why Canelo is choosing to fight Saunders, Yildirim, Callum, and Fielding rather than Andrade.
The only thing you can deduce is Canelo has been milking his contract with DAZN by taking sure thing fighters to make sure he doesn’t lose again.
If Canelo wanted to give boxing fans what they’ve been asking for, he would have fought Charlo, GGG, Andrade, and Benavidez a long time ago. But that would be asking Canelo to do something that he’s comfortable with.
Despite what some boxing fans say, Canelo did not look good against the faded Saunders. Indeed, Canelo looked old, tired, and incapable of throwing combinations.
He’d lose to Benavidez, Andrade, Charlo, Golovkin, and Gongora the way he fought last Saturday. Yes, Golovkin would beat Canelo, and perhaps comfortably.
GGG looked a lot better last December in his fight against Kamil Szceremeta than Canelo has looked in his last three fights.
The only thing that you can deduce from that is Golovkin’s grueling fight with Canelo in 2018 took something out of the Mexican star, leaving him no longer capable of firing on all eight cylinders.
Andrade unable to get Charlo and GGG fights
Nah,” said Andrade when asked if he’s had a conversation with Eddie Hearn since he invaded Canelo’s post-fight press conference last Saturday.
“I don’t think they like what I did. If Eddie Hearn appreciated what I did, what fights do we have to make sure that we get the Canelo?
“To me, the closest person to get that ticket is GGG. Now, if GGG doesn’t want to do it, I’m going to have to continue to fight somebody. I can’t just sit here and wait and be old and wrinkly.
“Eddie Hearn has helped me be active in that way,” said Andrade, but as far as helping me get a GGG fight, it’s not happening, a Canelo fight, it’s not happening.
“He tried to help with making a Charlo fight by offering 7 million dollars, but no counteroffer, no nothing.
“So when it came down to that situation, people saw what he did, and that’s it. But I don’t care what he does. I’m not doing that for Eddie Hearn.
“I’m doing that for me. I’m sparking what needed to be sparked a long time ago, and the facts are coming out that everyone needs to see.
“I’m doing what everybody needs to be doing if they want to fight somebody. I did it with Charlo, I did it with GGG, and I’m going to continue to do it ain’t the three best guys because when you say, ‘I don’t fight nobody.’
“When I try to fight on, they say, ‘You don’t deserve to fight him.’ Why does everybody else deserve to get in the ring but me? I don’t get that,” Demetrius said.
With Andrade unable to get fights against GGG, Charlo, and the other popular fighters, he’s in a position where Canelo makes excuses to the fans for why he doesn’t need to fight him.
