When you are as talented as Demetrius "Boo Boo" Andrade, waiting patiently for your time to shine is a challenge. Since turning pro in 2008, the 30-year-old from Providence, R.I., has watched his boxing peers become major attractions while he has remained the proverbial diamond in the rough.
He has been a victim of circumstance, if you will. One of the favorites to take home Olympic gold in 2008, Andrade returned empty-handed after he dropped a controversial decision to South Korea's Kim Jung-Joo in the quarterfinals. Some would call the loss a disappointment. Andrade — a decorated amateur who won gold at the World Amateur Boxing Championships in 2007 — decided not to dwell on it. He put his head down and turned pro in October 2008.
He signed a promotional deal with Joe DeGuardia’s Star Boxing in hopes that it could land him the big fights and make him the star he felt he deserved to be. Unfortunately for him, he fought inactivity more than opposition because his promoters were unable to secure him any major fights despite his unbeaten record (25-0, 16 KOs).
"They did the best they could," he says.
Ten years after turning pro, Andrade bought himself out of his contract and signed with Eddie Hearn's Matchroom Boxing. Soon after, the former junior middleweight champion was set for his big opportunity as a headliner — he was scheduled to fight Billy Joe Saunders for the WBO middleweight title on Saturday, Oct. 20, in Boston on a card streaming on DAZN. Saunders, however, was pulled from the main event after failing a drug test. He was replaced by relative unknown Walter Kautondokwa.
Andrade's dreams of being boxing's next big superstar have, once again, been deferred.
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"Boxing's different, man. It's difficult,” Andrade says while sitting in a suite at Bellator 206 in San Jose, Calif., a week before he found out Saunders would not be granted a license to fight in Massachusetts. Andrade had a feeling even then that that would happen, because he has dealt with false starts more than just about any other fighter in boxing.
"At the end of the day, I'm still tall, black and handsome," he says. "I'm young, I'm in good shape and now's the time. Everybody has their obstacles in life and their time. My time's now."
Not quite.
A young daredevil
When you attempt to do something great, you rarely anticipate that you'll come up short. Andrade’s childhood was all about him taking risks and looking to overcome obstacles. That’s kind of how he ended up with the nickname "Boo Boo."
Most fighters have nicknames that are meant to be imposing or describe their style. Andrade’s nickname is less about inflicting pain and more about taking the lumps.
“The nickname came from me being a daredevil as a kid,” he says, sinking into his seat with a grin on his face and adjusting the black bandana that traps his sprouting hair. “I used to go outside, climb trees, jump off roofs, do all that s—. I used to come running in the house with a bump or bruise from all of that, so my family just said, 'Your name is Boo Boo.'"
The daredevil was also about accepting challenges and proving naysayers wrong. His father owned a boxing gym, and 4-year-old Demetrius tagged along as his dad tried to prepare his 8-year-old brother for a future in the sweet science. "Boo Boo" couldn't just sit idle and watch; he had to participate. Eventually, he started picking up the fundamentals of boxing. His dad decided to put him in the ring against an opponent.
It wasn't quite his time then. Andrade lost the first fight of his young life.
"It was a good experience because from that day forth I was like, 'I'm never gonna lose again,’" he says, shaking a fist in the air for emphasis. He had taken his lumps and it hadn't deterred him. To this day, the loss is burned into his memory.
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"His name was Nick Morganelli," he says of his ring foe. "His brother was named Mike and they were around boxing for a long time like us. I'll never forget that name."
Andrade won his next fight. And another. And another after that. He was determined to be the best he could be. He found his way to the gym even if his father wasn't around to take him. As his brother’s interest in the sport waned, "Boo Boo" kept at it. He was always involved in sports, but boxing was the one thing he truly loved.
"I played a little football but it was nothing like boxing," he says. "One on one. Me vs. you. You win, you win. I lose, I lose. It was for me to build the character inside to be like, how do I get better at this without relying on anybody else?"
"Boo Boo" began to build a reputation within the local boxing scene that soon spread across the United States.
Andrade won the U.S. Amateur Boxing Championship in 2005. He repeated in 2006 and also won the National Golden Gloves tournament that year. While he was repeating as a Golden Gloves champ and winning the World Amateurs in 2007, he was also setting his sights on the Olympics.
He defeated Keith Thurman at the Olympic trials to punch his ticket to Beijing alongside the likes of Deontay Wilder, Sadam Ali and Gary Russell Jr. His dreams of gold were dashed with the loss to Kim.
He had suffered another setback.
'You can't just sweep me under the rug'
Andrade let his father steer him into the next chapter of his career. His dad aligned him with Star Boxing and Banner Promotions after Andrade turned pro.
The relationship started well enough. Andrade won his first 19 fights before being slated to face Vanes Martirosyan for the vacant WBO junior middleweight title in 2013. Andrade won and became the first of his Olympic class to hold a world title from a recognized sanctioning body. His next fight was a one-sided drubbing of Brian Rose in June 2014. It looked as though he had put himself in position for a major fight against the likes of Saul "Canelo" Alvarez, Jermell Charlo or even Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Yet again, there was another false start.
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He feuded with his promoters. HBO lost interest in him because of the lack of excitement in his fights. A proposed fight with Charlo fell apart and Andrade was stripped of his title for being inactive for more than a year. Things didn't get any better when Jay Z's Roc Nation Sports offered to sign him to a lucrative contract, only to pull back on the deal and leave Andrade with nowhere to go because of a legal battle once the deal went south. Andrade went from fighting 21 times in six years to just four times over the next four years.
During that time, Thurman, Daniel Jacobs, Adrien Broner, Shawn Porter, Danny Garcia and plenty of other fighters who were his boxing peers became stars in their own right. All Andrade could do was watch.
“This is a f—ed up business," Andrade says as he reflects on that period. "I was frustrated that I wasn’t fighting but I was happy to see them make money and take care of their families. I still feel like I'm going to get mine. I'm still undefeated. You can't just sweep me under the rug like I won't come back stronger and better."
Andrade used the time to learn the business before deciding what his next move would be. Ultimately, he opted to take matters into his own hands — as Mayweather did in 2006 — and buy himself out of his contract with Star Promotions. If nobody was going to bet on him, it was time for Andrade to bet on himself.
"It just boiled down to really taking the initiative of my life, my career and not waiting for somebody to move me on the board whenever they feel like moving me," he says. He declined to say what it cost him to get out of the deal. "Whatever it took. I didn’t care what the dollar amount was. I just needed to get out of that deal."
Andrade is a firm believer in the saying, "When one door closes, another opens." In a way, he has to be, considering the ups and downs he has dealt with for as long as he can remember. Adversity is nothing new and false starts have become par for the course.
It wouldn't take long for him to find someone who saw value in an undefeated, charismatic young fighter.
'I'm going to do what it takes to win'
On July 17, Andrade was announced as the newest member of Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing and part of the squadron of young talent tasked with pushing the sports streaming service DAZN into a new frontier. Although heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua was the crown jewel of the press conference, Andrade captivated those in attendance. Hearn gushed about Andrade's talent.
Andrade believes there is no better situation for him in boxing than with Matchroom.
"Eddie's young and hungry. He wants to prove that he can take certain people and turn them into the person that they should be," Andrade says as he explains his reasons for signing with Matchroom. "I see what he's doing over in the United Kingdom with guys like Anthony Joshua filling up Wembley Stadium. For him to try and bring that here, and for me to have that bridge to go fight over there and fight here? That's big."
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A grin stretches across Andrade’s face as he looks down at an empty bottle of water in his hands. Never one to shy away from saying how he feels, he gets candid about what he believes he can bring to Matchroom and DAZN.
"He knows what (Hearn is) dealing with. I whooped one of his fighters' ass. He was staring at me like he ain't never seen no s— like that,” Andrade says. "Don't get me wrong, Anthony Joshua is Anthony Joshua, but he's not as skillful and as talented as me, you know? I'm just speaking facts. They did a good job building him up, but I can do the same thing. And when you have somebody who can do what Anthony Joshua does, give me that opportunity.
“Eddie Hearn is giving me the opportunity and it feels good. I can be myself and let people know what they've been missing out on."
Andrade is confident he can become a superstar and that all he needs is the opportunity. What he won't do is sacrifice his integrity to sell tickets. He crushes the small bottle in his hands when asked whether he feels like he needs to be more controversial. He makes it clear that he doesn't need to appeal to the lowest common denominator.
"I'm not going to do anything out my way to try to get somebody to watch me because I want to act a buffoon," he says. "I want to build a character that I want my kids to look up to. It's OK to be the bad guy when it's time to be the bad guy, but to live and be the bad guy all day, every day? It's like, 'No, come on, man, you're making us look bad.'"
The timing is just right for Andrade to break out and be recognized as one of boxing’s elite. As part of a middleweight division that boasts Jacobs, Gennady "GGG" Golovkin, Jermall Charlo and Alvarez, who signed a record-breaking deal with DAZN on Oct. 16, his opportunities are plentiful.
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Although Andrade won't be facing Saunders on Saturday, he's confident that his performance that night will put the division on notice.
“I was the WBO champion at 154 pounds, and now I'm going to be WBO champion at 160 pounds, and so it's going to feel real good, man," he says. "It's going to put me right where I need to be. I can show people that, yeah, I've been inactive for one whole year, but I whooped your ass and I'm looking for anybody else that's out there."
Andrade says there's no pressure on him to knock out Kautondokwa because he doesn’t want to reveal all his tricks to potential competitors.
"Does the United States drop all their missiles and nuclear bombs when they go to war? No, right? They go in there and they use whatever they need to use to minimize tools, damage and kills," he says. "If I have to sit there and use certain things to win the fight, then that's what I'm going to do. If I need to bring out the missiles and all that s— 'cause it's getting rough, [then] that's what I'ma do, too. But I'm not going to put my life on the line for people just to get a few cheers. I’m going to do what it takes to win."
Andrade will have a lot of options should he win, but don't get it confused: Boxing’s middleweight division isn't the glamour division because of Canelo or GGG.
"The middleweight division is the hottest division because Demetrius Andrade is in it!" he shouts.
Everything else is old news. Andrade has watched his peers have success, but their time is up. He has endured all the setbacks he can stomach. He truly believes this is his time to shine.
“There comes a time and place where we need to see the fresh-squeezed orange juice. That's Demetrius Andrade," he says. "People just want to see me fight. They're missing out on the talent I have. It's my time now."
