Canelo Álvarez. Jermall Charlo. Jaime Munguía.
Gennadiy Golovkin. Ryōta Murata. Billy Joe Saunders.
Six of the most well-known world champions of the last five years?
Well, yeah.
Also, six fighters who, to varying degrees, have ducked Demetrius Andrade.
Andrade is the most dodged fighter of his generation. Period. Full stop. Eddie Hearn, Andrade’s former promoter, called Andrade “the most avoided fighter I have ever worked with.” Tyson Fury said top opponents won’t go near Andrade “because they are all afraid of him.” Here’s a fun fact: Andrade, 35, is an undefeated, two-weight world champion … who has never faced a current or former world champion.
It's crazy. Being avoided often comes with being a dangerous up-and-comer or a champion without money behind them. David Morrell, for example. Dmitry Bivol spent years making meaningless title defenses before Álvarez gave him a shot. But Andrade held a middleweight strap for nearly four years. He had a promoter, Hearn, offering big money to fight him. Jermall Charlo was dangled more than $5 million to face Andrade in 2019. Charlo passed.
“It's a gift and a curse,” Andrade tells Sports Illustrated. “There's really nothing I can say other than they don't want to fight me. So what more can I prove? I can't prove anything.”
Ryan Hafey/Premier Boxing Champions
On Tuesday, Andrade was inside the Conga Room in downtown Los Angeles. On the stage with him was David Benavidez, the undefeated, two-time 168-pound titleholder. Benavidez—an avoided fighter in his own right—will put an interim super middleweight title on the line Saturday when he faces Andrade in Las Vegas.
“It’s all fun and games but when I get in the ring, it’s not funny,” Benavidez said. “I guarantee you I'm going to knock out Demetrius Andrade. Either knock him out or stop him. But it's not going to go good for him.”
From a few feet away, Andrade smiled. This—this—is all Andrade has wanted. Name on the marquee. Headlining a significant fight. The best against the best. Andrade made millions beating up on Maciej Sulęcki, Luke Keeler and Liam Williams. But he has never been on a pound-for-pound list. He has never been considered one of the best fighters in the world.
A win over Benavidez gets him there. It won’t be easy. Benavidez is a monster. He’s knocked out 85% of his opponents. Those that go the distance—like Caleb Plant, who Benavidez battered over 12 rounds—pay a price. “I send all my opponents to the hospital,” Benavidez said. Andrade, who won titles at 154 and 160 pounds, will be fighting for just the second time at 168. Benavidez is a 4–1 favorite, per SI Sportsbook.
Presented with that information, Andrade shrugged.
“He's going to get hit walking into a lot of shots,” says Andrade. “He's going to be surprised. And then, yeah, I can just cruise. If the knockout comes, the knockout comes. That's how I was taught. But at the end of the day, this is the sweet science of boxing and I will use my brain and use my education and my IQ to stay out of the harm or danger and also inflict damage.”
This is a big fight for Benavidez. But it’s the fight for Andrade. For nearly two years Andrade has been in the boxing wilderness. After a knockout win over Jason Quigley in Nov. 2021, Hearn cut Andrade loose. Not because he didn’t like him. But because he couldn’t do anything for him. Plans to face Zach Parker at middleweight fell apart. He didn’t fight in 2022, the first year of his pro career he spent idle.
“It was difficult in the sense that I wanted to be active,” says Andrade. “Eddie Hearn couldn't make anything happen. It was time to move forward, put some extra charcoal in the fire and let's figure out which direction we have to go, even if it takes a year. Because at the end of the day, I have still what everybody wants: undefeated, I can fight, and I can get in there with the best of them whenever they choose to say, ‘Okay, let's make these fights happen.’”
Last January, Andrade aligned himself with PBC, appearing on the undercard of Gervonta Davis’s fight against Hector Luis García. Andrade, in his words, “took a bullet” in that fight, a wide decision win over Demond Nicholson.
“That was my, ‘Hey look, here's my good faith,’” says Andrade. “But come on, that was not the motivating part that I want. So I just went in there, did what I do, felt it out, got the rounds in, see what I need, got some rust off. Now we're here. So I took that time to just get my body, my mind, and everything right for this fight.”
Andrade wanted another fight. Quickly. He wanted Plant. That didn’t happen. He asked for Charlo. Nothing. As the months passed, Andrade was facing another lost year. When the opportunity to face Benavidez came up, Andrade jumped at it.
“We're both at a point where it's like, who's asking to fight David?” asks Andrade. “Nobody. Who's asking to fight me? Nobody. Not as far as the highest caliber of fighter. Yeah, there are fighters that are, not say beneath us, but on their way up looking for opportunity. This is it. I'm thankful for David Benavidez and his team to be like, ‘Yeah, let's do it.’”
Andrade knows what he’s facing. Benavidez isn’t just a 168-pound contender. He’s a huge 168-pound contender. “He’s a big boy,” says Andrade. Benavidez’s power flows from a relentless motor. He threw 551 punches against Plant, per CompuBox, landing 210 of them. He connected on 43% of his power shots. In the second half of the fight, Benavidez outlanded Plant 161–46.
Andrade can’t just be good. He has to be great.
Andrade agrees. He’s been training at high altitude to improve his conditioning. He’s been working on his legs in anticipation of moving a lot inside the 20-by-20 foot ring on Saturday night. The Nicholson fight gave him a chance to adjust to 168-pounds and he’s confident the skills that made him unbeatable in two weight divisions will serve him well in a third.
“Get your popcorn ready,” Andrade said. “I’m excited for this bout. I’ve been patiently waiting and this is the greatest fight that can be made at 168 pounds right now. We’re two fighters who are willing to make it happen. No fuss, no fight. I’m just ready to go. It’s war time.”
