Results and highlights: Andrade retains WBO title over Williams

Demetrius Andrade once again retained his WBO middleweight title today in Florida, beating Liam Williams by unanimous decision over 12 rounds.

Andrade (30-0, 18 KO) won on scores of 116-111, 118-109, and 118-109. Bad Left Hook scored the fight 118-109 for Andrade, as well.

Andrade had Williams (23-3-1, 18 KO) down in the second round, and was blitzing him early with heavy offense. But Williams just kept coming forward throughout the fight, living up to his nickname (“The Machine”), and making Andrade work for all 12 rounds. Andrade was never able to simply coast, but it was his sharpshooting and movement that won the fight, and Williams just didn’t have enough answers.

“Liam Williams is a hell of a fighter, tough, strong, he comes to fight. That’s the type of fight people wanted to see me in,” Andrade told DAZN’s Chris Mannix. “I showed out, I got the W, but my hat goes off to Williams. I already knew he was tough, but him getting up, wanting some more — that showed me he already was that, it wasn’t a surprise. He was a dog.”

Williams, who said in the build-up he wasn’t going to overly respect Andrade in the ring, gave his best but admitted he was beaten by the better man on the day.

“Demetrius is a very good fighter. He’s better than I thought, to be honest with you,” Williams said. “I couldn’t really get going in terms of landing shots and getting my combinations off. I hurt him a couple of times, but he was gone before I could capitalize.”

Williams, 28, also expects to come again sooner than later.

“I don’t feel like I’m going to take too much of a step back. I’m going to stay at world level,” he said. “I feel Demetrius is probably the best of the world champions (at 160). I’ve got respect for him, he’s quality.”

Asked if he felt he’d convinced the other champions in the division to fight him, Andrade gave a shrug of the shoulders, basically, but said he’s ready.

“I’m a champion, I’m undefeated. I shouldn’t have to inspire anyone to get into the ring,” he said. “Whenever we can sit down and make something happen, I’m willing to do it. I’m willing to risk it all. I want to show that I’m the best, and I’ve got to get in there with them guys, and they’ve got to do it as well.”

Promoter Eddie Hearn again called out WBC titlist Jermall Charlo to fight Andrade, something that has simmered but gone nowhere for years now.

“He’s done his job,” Hearn said of Andrade. “It’s not his responsibility to convince the other champions to fight him. Champions are supposed to fight champions. Jermall Charlo is fighting Juan Montiel. I don’t know what he’s doing. He’s got an opportunity. If (Charlo) doesn’t want to fight on DAZN, we’ve made him a tremendous offer, then Demetrius will go fight on FOX, it’s not a problem. He’s not expensive.”

For once, Hearn did also explicitly call out IBF titleholder Gennadiy Golovkin, who is promoted by Matchroom and has a DAZN deal, as well as WBA titlist Ryota Murata.

“Gennadiy Golovkin should be looking to fight Demetrius Andrade on DAZN in the summer and then Ryota Murata in December. Champions have to fight champions. If you’re Charlo, if you’re Golovkin, let’s do it! Let’s make the unification fights!”

The co-feature wound up a mismatch, as Gongora dominated Pearson throughout the fight and caught him with a good shot on the eye in the eighth round. Pearson was dropped, got up, and then realized the eye was gone. He was way out of the fight (he had no argument for winning a single round to that point) and an eye injury is nothing to mess around with.

Pearson (17-3, 12 KO) just never got into this. The length and size of Gongora (20-0, 15 KO) was just too much, and Pearson never figured out the range, never figured out a plan of attack. You have to like what you saw from the 31-year-old Ecuadorian in this fight, he was patient, his attack was tight and measured, and when he wanted to open up, he did so effectively. It wasn’t dramatic and there weren’t many fireworks, but it was just a rock solid performance from Gongora, who will now hope to get into real contention at 168.

• Alexis Espino UD-6 Ty McLeod: Not the best showing we’ve seen from Espino (8-0, 5 KO), the 21-year-old super middleweight prospect, but a clear win, scores of 59-55, 59-55, and 60-54. McLeod (6-1, 6 KO) was taking a huge step up in opposition here and it showed, as did the fact that he’s not a purely boxing-focused guy; they mentioned has also fights MMA and kickboxing, and he had some kickboxing-style boxing flaws in his technique. But give the 24-year-old local fighter credit, he stayed in there and gave this the best shot he could. He was out-classed but never quit on the fight.
• Andrey Fedosov KO-1 Mahammadrasul Majidov: Terrible result for Majidov, the 34-year-old from Azerbaijan, a heavyweight hopeful who wanted to fast track himself. The right hand that put him down here was no fluke or joke at all, it was a heavy, heavy shot. But Majidov (3-1, 3 KO) also badly injured his ankle on the fall, and that was pretty much it. He got up and tried to continue, but he was down again at the first glancing blow, couldn’t hold himself up. For Fedosov (32-3, 26 KO), this was his first fight since 2018, and he still hasn’t lost since 2013. By hook or crook, this outcome could rocket him into a good fight if he wants one. He’s got real power, not a top contender and never has been, but real power and this is a big win for him. Hopefully Majidov’s injury isn’t too bad, but it didn’t look good to say the very least.

• Arthur Biyarslanov MD-8 Israel Mercado: The 25-year-old Biyarslanov goes to 8-0 (6 KO), but this was legitimately not an easy fight for him against Mercado (9-1, 7 KO), who doesn’t have great technique but is subtly crafty, tough as hell, a guy who can hang around in fights. He seems like someone who will get a lot of calls to test prospects, he’s willing to mix it up. Biyarslanov still hasn’t wowed me any time I’ve seen him, he’s had a bit of buzz out of the Canadian circuit and he’s solid and well-trained, but not sure he has any true plus-plus attributes. Scores were 76-76, 77-75, and 78-74, the latter two for Biyarslanov. Bad Left Hook had it 77-75 for Biyarslanov.
• Prelims: Junior welterweight prospect Aaron Aponte went to 3-0 (1 KO) with a four-round decision win over Javier Martinez (4-8, 3 KO), scores of 40-36 across the board. There was a notable result here, with Jorge Castaneda (14-1, 11 KO) getting a majority decision win over 130/135 prospect Otha Jones III (5-1-1, 2 KO). There have been signs that the pro game just might not suit the 21-year-old Jones, and this was another one — a big one. Scores were 76-76, 76-75, and 77-75, which some reports felt were closer than Jones really deserved.