(CHICAGO, ILL.) – Welterweight Demetrius Andrade (Providence, R.I.) joined his U.S. Olympic Training Center roommate Rau’shee Warren in the final round on Friday with a 22-6 victory over Turkey’s Adem Killici in the lone U.S. semifinal contest of evening action..
Andrade controlled the pace throughout, beginning with a slow first round, which ended with the home country boxer holding a 3-1 lead. Andrade turned up his offense in the second stanza, holding Killici to one point, but landing four scoring blows of his own to move out to a 7-2 edge at the halfway mark. Once he had his lead in hand, Andrade began to break down the Turkish boxer, landing long straight shots and mixing in uppercuts to take a nine-point advantage into the final round of boxing. With a strong U.S. crowd spurring him own, Andrade continued to dominate Killici, mixing up his punches and landing with outstanding accuracy. At the sound of the final bell, Andrade had won a 22-6 decision and a spot in final round action.
“I knew going in there that he was a little longer than me and taller than me so the plan was to use the jab and throw the straight left to the body. I was doing it and it started wearing him down like it always does,” Andrade said. “I knew going into the second round, I had it control, I started finding my distance and going to the body more. He was trying to move with hands down and with the good conditioning I have, I attacked.”
Andrade will face Thailand’s Non Boonjumnong in final round action on Saturday.
Demetrius Andrade quotes
“My key was to use the jab and go to the body. That works well, every time I use it, I win.”
“Rau’shee and I are going to the finals. We worked hard, we’re going to the finals and we’re ready to bring the gold home for the United States.”
“I heard the crowd a lot but I heard my dad, Paul Andrade and my other coach, David Keith. They worked with my corner and everything worked well.”
“It feels good to hear USA, when I hear that I know to go after him.”
“I don’t know what the general public thinks, but to myself, I’m always the underdog. You have to see somebody go to work before you can judge them.”
“In international boxing, the best thing to do is get up in the first two rounds. I make sure if I don’t score, he doesn’t score. Then I try to score and make sure he doesn’t score and in the third round, I pick it up and they can’t do anything. If they want to fight, I’ll fight.”