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Demetrius Andrade remains on the hook for a mandatory title defense.
A last-ditch effort to secure an alternative option for Providence’s Andrade proved futile, as the unbeaten WBO middleweight title is still required to next face top contender Janibek Alimkhanuly. The sanctioning body previously called for a purse bid hearing which is scheduled for January 14 at WBO’s headquarters in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Andrade (31-0, 19KOs) and his team have spent the past several weeks exploring the possibility of facing England’s Zach Parker (22-0, 16KOs) for the WBO interim super middleweight title. WBO’s championship committee was prepared to honor the request, while undisputed super middleweight king Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez (57-1-2, 39KOs) sorts out his next move.
That deal is no longer on the table.
“WBO cannot wait any longer on whether Andrade faces #1 Super Middleweight, Zach Parker for the Interim 168 [pound] title,” Francisco ‘Paco’ Valcarcel, the longtime WBO president declared Wednesday evening. “Therefore, [the Andrade- Alimkhanuly purse bid] will take place at WBO Office January 14, 12:00 pm (noon).”
The middleweight title fight was formally ordered November 30, eleven days after Andrade scored a second-round knockout of Ireland’s Jason Quigley in a voluntary title defense. Andrade and Alimkhanuly (11-0, 7KOs) were given until December 20 to work out a deal, only for that period to lapse without the two sides coming to terms.
A purse bid hearing was called during the year-end holiday season, though—as Is the case with the period between the ordered hearing and the actual session—there was still time for an eleventh-hour deal to avoid that route. Andrade—who previously held the WBO junior middleweight title before winning his current title in October 2018—instead sought the option of campaigning in his third weight division.
Parker has been waiting on a title shot since the pandemic, having advanced to the top contender spot following an eleventh-round stoppage of Rohan Murdock in March 2020. The 27-year-old Brit—who is managed by Neil Marsh and fights under Frank Warren’s Queensberry Promotions banner—has since fought three times, most recently in a fourth-round stoppage of Marcus Morrison last November in Birmingham, England.
Should the WBO still permit Parker to challenge for an interim super middleweight title, it will have to come against another opponent. Andrade is locked into other plans, barring his vacating the WBO middleweight belt.
Kazakhstan’s Alimkhanuly is coming off of back-to-back eighth-round stoppages, including his one-sided drubbing of former secondary WBA middleweight titlist Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam on November 20 at Michelob ULTRA Arena in Las Vegas. The win came one night following Andrade’s early knockout of Quigley and with the immediate request to next enter a title fight.
Five months prior, Alimkhanuly—managed by Egis Klimas and promoted by Top Rank—similarly tore through former WBA secondary titlist Rob Brant in eight rounds this past June 26 at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas.
The January 14 purse bid hearing is open to all WBO-registered promoters. The minimum accepted bid is $200,000 for the fight. If Andrade goes through with the fight, it will serve as his sixth attempted title defense.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox