It wasn?t easy, but Demetrius Andrade?s arduous journey to a middleweight world title is complete.
In the main event of a Matchroom Boxing card from Boston streamed on DAZN, Andrade landed numerous knockdowns in the first few rounds to ultimately defeat Walter Kautondokwa by unanimous decision. Andrade won the fight with scores of 120-104, 120-104, 119-105.
The story of the fight was Andrade effectively landing his left hook and successfully slipping under Kautondokwa?s punches. The fight started with a first-round knockdown for Andrade after landing a solid left hook. Andrade would knock Kautondokwa down three more times, twice in the third round and once in the fourth, and would then cruise to an win.
It was Andrade?s first middleweight title fight after two reigns as a world champion at junior middleweight. The victory ended months of waiting as Andrade resolved his promotional issues to sign with Matchroom Boxing earlier this year with the promise of getting a middleweight title opportunity.
That opportunity came on October 20, but Kautondokwa was not Andrade?s intended opponent. Andrade was supposed to fight Billy Joe Saunders for the WBO title, but Saunders vacated the title after being denied a license to box by the Massachusetts State Athletic Commission due to a positive test for the banned substance oxilofrine. Kautondokwa, the No. 2 middleweight ranked by the WBO heading in to the fight, was then brought on board to fight Andrade for the vacant belt.
Regarding what?s next for Andrade, the new middleweight champion said he?s going to sit down with promoter Eddie Hearn to discuss when and against who will be his first title defense.