Demetrius Andrade received a stiff challenge from Liam Williams and still won by a mile, which might say something about his ability.
Andrade, defending his middleweight title Saturday in Hollywood Fla., outboxed Williams from beginning to end to win a wide decision. That was no surprise. However, he had to be more resilient than usual against a tough, determined opponent. That was less expected.
Andrade (30-0, 18 KOs) got off to a typically strong start, hurting Williams (23-3-1, 18 KOs) in the opening round and putting him down with a right-left combination late in Round 2.
At that moment, it seemed as if the fight might end early. However, the Welshman, obviously fit and determined, survived the harrowing moment and remained on his feet for the remainder of a reasonably competitive 12-round fight.
Andrade was impressive, moving laterally, stopping momentarily to land quick, hard shots and then moving his feet again. The Rhode Islander was particular effective with his head-snapping right uppercut, which he connected on throughout the fight.
To his credit, Williams stalked the champion incessantly looking for openings. And he had some success when he was able to catch up to Andrade and engage inside. The problem for him is that Andrade didn’t allow that to happen often enough for Williams to win rounds consistently.
Thus, the official scores were one-sided: 118-110, 118-110 and 116-111. Boxing Junkie scored it 118-110 for Andrade, 10-2 in rounds.
Williams, who had stopped his previous seven opponents, had no complaints after his first world title fight.
“He’s a very good fighter,” he said of Andrade. “He’s better than I thought, to be honest with you. He was slipperier than he appears to be on TV. I couldn’t really get going, landing my shots, getting my combinations off.
“I hurt him a couple of times, I feel, but he was gone before I knew it and I couldn’t capitalize on it.”
Andrade was pleased and respectful of Williams.
“Liam Williams is a hell of a fighter, tough, strong and he comes to fight,” Andrade said. “That’s the time of fight people wanted to see me in. And that’s what we did. I showed out, I performed the way I needed to perform to get the W.
“My hat goes off to Williams all day.”
Andrade, the WBO titleholder, has had trouble luring the other champions and top 160-pounders into the ring. He hopes the victory over Saturday is another step toward getting the likes of Jermall Charlo and Gennadiy Golovkin to fight him.
“At the end of the day, I’m a champion, I’m undefeated,” he said. “I shouldn’t have to inspire anyone to get in the ring for a belt, an undefeated record and a whole lot of money on the table. Whenever we can sit down and make something happen, I’m willing to do it. I’m willing to risk it all.
“If I want to show I’m the best, I have to get in the ring with those guys and they have to do it as well. This was a nice stepping stone for me to get on to the next level.”
