Seemingly since the beginning of time, Demetrius Andrade has begged elite fighters to face him in the ring. Nevertheless, despite calling out the likes of Jermall Charlo, Canelo Alvarez, Gennadiy Golovkin (GGG), and a long list of other stars, he’s failed to lure those big names into the squared circle.
Recently, however, Andrade (31-0, 19 KOs) noticed that a gigantic target was placed brazenly on his backside by Janibek Alimkhanuly. With the 29-year-old reeling off 12 consecutive victories to start his career, the Kazakhstan native was positioned perfectly to challenge Andrade for his WBO middleweight title.
Andrade, though a proud champion, opted against taking Alimkhanuly on his fight offer. Instead, the 34-year-old has decided to move up in weight and will square off against Demond Nicholson on January 7th, in Washington D.C.
Shortly after vacating his golden trinket, Alimkhanuly, who held the WBO interim title, was immediately elevated.
While he looks back on his time at 160 pounds fondly, the former Olympian has no regrets over how it all played out. In his view, Andrade believes that he should have been given a showdown against someone who brought more monetary value to the table.
“It wasn’t worth anything for me,” said Andrade to FightHype.com when asked why he bypassed a Janibek bout. “Me and GGG are in the same lane. The same generation, era. That’s what we should be clapping for, not Janibek.”
In what amounted to the first defense of his middleweight crown, Alimkhanuly looked far from impressive. Although he was pegged as a gargantuan favorite against Denzel Bentley on November 12th, opinions were split as Alimkhanuly escaped with a highly controversial unanimous decision win.
Even with Andrade having no plans to return to his old stomping grounds, he did admit that he tuned in to watch Alimkhanuly’s disappointing performance. Considering his recent showing and his overall skills, Andrade concludes that Alimkhanuly simply isn’t on his level.
“This guy can’t carry my bags to the gym. I’m not wasting my time.”