By Ian S Palmer
Unbeaten WBO Middleweight Champion Demetrius Andrade of Providence, Rhode Island takes on Jason Quigley of Ireland this Friday, November 19th. The 12-round tilt from Manchester, New Hampshire can be seen live in most nations on DAZN. Andrade last boxed in April when he beat Liam Williams via a unanimous decision. Quigley last saw action in May when he earned a 10-round majority decision over Shane Mosley Jr to capture the vacant WBO NABO Middleweight Title.
The 33-year-old Andrade won the vacant title in October, 2018 via a unanimous decision over Walter Kautondokwa and defended it against Artur Akavov by 12th-round stoppage in January, 2019. He then defended it against Macviej Sulecki by unanimous decision and then stopped luke Keeler and decisioned Liam Williams so this will be the fifth defence of his belt. Andrade was also briefly the WBA Super Welterweight Champion in 2017 after beating Jack Culcay by unanimous decision.
Andrade enters the ring with a perfect record of 30-0 with 18 Kos. He’s a southpaw who stands 6-feet tall with a 73.5-inch reach. He’s got quite a lot of talent and has only slightly stepped up the class of opposition recently. His biggest wins have been against, Williams, Sulecki, Culcay, Willie Nelson, Alantez Fox and Vanes Martirosyan by split decision in 2013 to win the vacant WBO Super Welterweight Title.
Andrade defended the WBO belt against Brian Rose by seventh-round stoppage the next year, but gave up the title a few months later when he wouldn’t take on mandatory challenger Jermell Charlo. Andrade then sat out several months with promotional problems. He was inactive for a year before winning the vacant title against Kautondokwa.
Andrade is a former 2008 U.S. Olympian and enjoyed an excellent amateur career. He turned pro shortly after the Olympics in 2008 and has fought 188 rounds since and also has wins over veterans Grady Brewer, Freddy Hernandez and Saul Duran. He possesses some fine boxing skills but isn’t exactly the most exciting fighter out there even though he’s got better-than-average power with a current knockout ratio of 60 per cent. However, he’s gone the distance in five of his last seven outings.
The 30-year-old Quigley has a mark of 19-1 with 14 Kos and has pretty good power in his fists with a knockout ratio of 70 per cent. He’s also a decent sized middleweight at 6-feet tall with a 72-inch reach so gives up a minimal 1.5-inches in reach to Andrade. Quigley turned pro back in 2014 and has just 83 rounds of experience since then, but had an extensive and successful amateur career.
His biggest pro wins have been against Mosley, Freddy Hernandez, Glen Tapia, Jorge Melendez and James De la Rosa. Quigley’s lone pro defeat came in July, 2019 when he was stopped after seven rounds by Tureano Johnson to lose the NABF Middleweight Title which he has won against Glen Tapia in March, 2017.
Prediction…
Quigley is a solid pro with power but still isn’t the level of competition Andrade should be facing. Whether the cream of the crop in the middleweight division is avoiding Andrade is debatable but somewhere down the line he needs to get in the ring with an elite-level boxer. Quigley is a fine boxer but simply isn’t at Andrade’s level. That doesn’t mean he has no hope though as power can take a boxer a long way. A prime example of this was Kiko Martinez’s KO over Kid Galahad last weekend. I don’t expect lightning to strike twice in less than a week though and Andrade should retain his belt here.
