Saturday night at the Dunkin? Donuts Center in Providence, Rhode Island, in a fight streamed live in the US on DAZN, reigning and defending WBO middleweight champion Demetrius Andrade (28-0, 17 KOs), the southpaw sensation fighting in front of his hometown fans, shutout overmatched Maciej Sulecki (28-2, 11 KOs), the WBO #1 ranked challenger from Warsaw, Poland, to retain his title.
The final scores after 12 lopsided rounds were unanimous. All three judges had it 120-107.
Fighting out of the blue corner in white trunks with blue trim, Andrade was a 5:1 favorite coming in, which was generous to a fault to his opponent. ?Boo Boo? is a fast, strong, clever, athletic boxer-puncher who dropped Sulecki in the opening round. But whatever excitement that knockdown generated was whittled away as the desultory rounds progressed. Andrade refused to sit down on his punches. He refused to take any chances. He spent most of the fight winging single shots and posing, doing a little Sugar Ray Leonard here, a little Muhammad Ali there, without the former?s willingness to go for the kill when he smelled blood and the latter?s sublimity. Even the partisan crowd began to boo before the fight entered the championship rounds. But closing the show seemed the last thing on Andrade?s mind, so busy was he envisioning a future fight with Canelo Alvarez or Gennady Golovkin.
Sulecki, fighting out of the red corner in white trunks trimmed in red, barely laid a glove on Andrade. He tried, often halfheartedly, to catch the elusive champion, while his corner kept pleading, ?You cannot go back. You have to go forward. You cannot play defense. You have got to go forward.? That was sound advice, but advice which Sulecki neither could nor would not heed, either because he was too slow or hard of hearing or telegraphing his punches, or due the fact that Andrade was too slick and too aware that he could cruise to an easy decision without jeopardizing the big payday on the horizon.
The fight of recent vintage which Andrade-Sulecki most resembled was the dispiriting May 5 pas de deux between Canelo and Daniel Jacobs. That fight, either by coincidence or design, was also streamed on DAZN, whose reliance on mismatches and foregone conclusions doesn?t bode well for a sport which is often accused of crossing the line.
After the bout, Andrade spoke as if he had just won the Fight of the Year. He said Sulecki ?ain?t no Steve Rolls, ain?t no Rocky Fielding,? which is exactly what he was, before calling out the big ticket middleweights on DAZN?s roster.
?Where?s Canelo? Where?s Triple G? What?s the holdup? If you want to say you?re a legend and you?re the top guy, then you need to come this way. I am the best out here.
?Canelo, where your cojones at? I?m ready to go in September. Let?s put it all on the line. Let?s go, Canelo. Let?s unify this division. Let?s have one champion. It?s 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 a mano.?
