Middleweight title contender Demetrius Andrade is now a free agent.
Although boxing is not a team sport where the term free agent is more prevalent, in this case, Andrade is free to sign with any promotional company out there. Andrade has reached an agreement with co-promoters Joe DeGuardia and Artie Pelullo to terminate his promotional contract.
With this latest piece of news, Andrade’s immediate fight future is up in the air. He was scheduled to fight Yamaguchi Falcao in the opening bout of the July 21 HBO television card from Las Vegas that is being headlined by Jaime Munguia vs. Liam Smith for the WBO junior middleweight title, but now Andrade’s fight was called off.
Chances are the two companies that will likely be the frontrunners to sign Andrade would be Top Rank and Matchroom Boxing USA. Both companies have their benefits when it comes to getting Andrade a shot at a middleweight world title. Top Rank works with the Japanese promotional company that has WBA “regular” middleweight champion Ryota Murata as well as having a bigger television audience by having fights cards televised on ESPN.
Matchroom, as part of its expansion into the United States, signed former world champion Daniel Jacobs last year and Jacobs is ordered by the IBF to fight Sergiy Derevyanchenko for its vacant title. If Andrade were to sign with Matchroom, he would likely be a part of the roster who would compete on the Matchroom Boxing USA cards that will be streamed on DAZN, which will launch in the United States later this year.
As Andrade is ranked in the top five in both the WBA and IBF rankings, he is on the cusp of challenging for a world title. Issues with promoters has caused Andrade to have an inconsistent fight schedule as he has yet to fight once in 2018 and only fought twice in 2017. The undefeated Andrade is a two-time world champion, having held the WBO and WBA “regular” junior middleweight titles and moved up in weight in his last fight against Alantez Fox back in October.
