Demetrius Andrade might’ve provided the most compelling evidence yet that he deserves a big fight.
The 33-year-old WBO middleweight titleholder put Jason Quigley down three times before stopping him in the second round of a brutally one-sided fight Saturday night at SNHU Arena in Manchester, New Hampshire.
Andrade’s fifth defense of his belt was his most dominating, which is the message he wanted to send opponents who are reluctant to face him.
“I’m 31-0, WBO champion, 2008 Olympian. What do I have to keep on doing? I don’t get it. That’s it. Line ’em up,” he said in the ring immediately afterward.
The first few minutes of the fight were uneventful, as the fighters tried to gauge what the other had.
Then everything changed in an instant. Andrade (31-0, 19 KOs) hurt Quigley (19-2, 14 KOs) with a right hook and forced the 30-year-old Irishman to the canvas with a follow-up flurry, ending with a right-left.
Quigley, hurt but able to fight, got up and survived the round but it was clear at that point hat he was vulnerable.
Andrade fought patiently for the first half of Round 2 and then, with about a minute to go, the southpaw landed a left hook that put Quigley down on his butt. The challenger hit the canvas once more under the weight of punishing barrage, prompting referee Arthur Mercante Jr. to stop the fight.
Whether fellow titleholders Jermall Charlo (WBC), Ryota Murata (WBA) and Gennadiy Golovkin (IBF) took notice is anyone’s guess.
Charlo was a candidate to face undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez but it appears the Mexican will jump to cruiserweight to face titleholder Ilunga Makabu, which seems to leave Charlo’s schedule open.
Murata and Golovkin are set to face off in a unification bout on Dec. 29. The winner might chose to face Andrade to unify three titles. Another possibility is former 154-pound champ Jaime Munguia, who is now a hot middleweight contender
Andrade, who has yet to mix it up with a star, retains hope that one of the above will risk fighting the athletic, awkward 160-pound champ from Rhode Island.
“Jaime Munguia needs to be fighting me if he’s looking to fight Triple-G (Golovkin),” he said. “Or the winner or loser of Triple-G and Murata. I’ll fight either one of them because they’re both elite, top fighters.
“I want to get in there with best. I want to prove that I’m able to get in there and win.”
He’s been saying the same thing for long time. We’ll see if anything changes.
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