Demetrius Andrade Ordered To Face Janibek Alimkhanuly
Fresh off his squash match and successful title defense, WBO middleweight champion Demetrius Andrade will have his next mandated opponent in the queue for 2022.
The World Boxing Organization (WBO) ordered today that Andrade was requested by the team for Janibek Alimkhanuly to claim the mandatory contender spot. With that claim comes now, Andrade’s side to enter and agree on the negations.
“The WBO World Championship Committee hereby orders the parties herein the commencement of the negotiations for the above-referenced Mandatory Middleweight Championship Contest,” Luis Batista-Salas, chairman of the WBO Championship Committee noted in an official to all involved parties, which copy of which has been gathered by BoxingScene “The parties are granted 20-days upon issuing this notice letter to negotiate and reach an agreement, or purse bid proceedings will be called per WBO Regulations of World Championship Contests.”
WBO Middleweight Mandatory Championship Contest Negotiations: Demetrius Andrade vs. Zhanibek Alimkhanulyhttps://t.co/0A6vFnHyct
— WBO (@WorldBoxingOrg) November 30, 2021
So once again, despite the banter and conversation of Jamie Munguia or Jermell Charlo facing Andrade, he is saddled with another mandatory defense. Me and TJ RIves here at Big Fight Weekend have bemoaned at length and so has Andrade’s promoter, Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing as the Munguia fight, in particular, is one that should’ve been had by now. Andrade (31-0, 19 KOS) is coming off two rounds of quick work against Jason Quigley. Alimkhanuly went to the WBO after winning the title eliminator, stopping Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam back on November 20.
Demetrius Andrade is represented by Matchroom Boxing and Alimkhanuly is by Top Rank. We’ll see if either side gets into a bidding war again if it makes it to the purse bid headquarters in Puerto Rico. Don’t think it will but this seems one of those fights that no one asked for…except the earned mandatory challenger Alimkhanuly (11-0, 7 KOs). At some point, Andrade is going to have to get a high-profile fight as the game of “Boo-Boo keep away” has gone one long enough, and well past that time, he pulled out of the Charlo fight over 4 years ago.
Marquis Johns is a unknown humorist and avid boxing fan. His love for the sweet science goes back to when matches were 15 rounds and has been covering fights since closed-circuit pay-per-views. Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth is not only a quote by Mike Tyson, it's also a pretty good reminder to keep your guard up.
