By Ian S Palmer
Unbeaten WBO Middleweight Champion Demetrius Andrade of Providence, Rhode Island takes on Liam Williams of Wales in Hollywood, Florida this Saturday, April 10. The 12 round bout can be seen live in North America and most other nations on DAZN. Andrade last fought in January, 2020 when he stopped Luke Keeler in the ninth round. Williams’ last fight took place in October when he stopped Andrew Robinson in 88 seconds to retain his British Middleweight Title.
The 33-year-old Andrade won the vacant title in October, 2018 via a unanimous decision over Walter Kautondokwa and then 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 Keeler so this will be the fourth 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 29-0 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, 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 176 rounds since then 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 stands at 62.1 per cent. In fact, he’s gone the distance in four of his last six fights.
Williams hails from Wales and is 28 years old. He’s currently on a seven-bout winning streak with all victories coming by stoppage. He enters the ring with a mark of 23-2-1 with 18 Kos and has only been beaten by fellow Brit Liam Smith. He lost to Smith after nine rounds in April 2017 for the interim WBO Jr Middleweight Title when the fight was stopped due to a cut eye. He then dropped the rematch by majority 12-round decision seven months later
Williams has boxed 121 rounds since turning pro back in 2011. He stands 5-feet-10-inches tall with an unlisted reach which gives him a two-inch reach disadvantage against Andrade. The only other fight he hasn’t won was a third-round technical draw with Tyan Booth in December of 2013. Smith has arguably better power than the champ with a current knockout ratio of 69.2 per cent. He also had eight straight knockouts until meeting Smith the first time.
But like Andrade, Williams hasn’t really taken on the top contenders of his weight class. He’s fought mainly domestic and lower-level opponents up to now even if he has been a British, Commonwealth and European Jr Middleweight Champion as well as winning the WBO Inter-Continental, and WBC Silver Middleweight titles. Williams’s biggest wins have been against Alantez Fox, Karim Achour, Gary Corcoran and Mark Heffron.
Wiliams fought well in the fights against Smith though. Smith failed to make the weight in their first meeting and was deservedly ahead on points by a point on all three cards at the time of the stoppage due to his determined effort. However, he couldn’t replicate that effort in the second meeting. Still, he’s just 28 years old and has a shot at a legitimate world title.
Prediction…
Williams’ record might lead one to believe he’s a bit of a KO artist, but he’s the owner of some pretty good boxing skills, but not on Andrade’s level. At least Andrade’s taking a step forward in level of opposition here and he should be tested here. This could be a more entertaining fight than most of Andrade’s and he should have enough skills to pull out a win.
