The positive spin on Andrade-Harrison

The old saying goes, when life gives you lemons, make lemonade.

Then on Thursday, Matchroom Boxing announced the fight card announcement of Demetrius “Boo Boo” Andrade taking on Dusty Harrison on the undercard of Daniel Jacobs and Gabe Rosado on November 27th live from the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida on DAZN.

There isn’t enough sugar in the world of boxing to get the sour taste out of everyone’s mouth about the matchup but let’s swallow this one down.

First off, Andrade speaking on it is making the best of the non-title bout pretty much saying, “it is what it is.”

“It’s me again,” said Andrade in the press release. “I thought long and hard about this, and at the end of the day, this is another opportunity for me to go out there, get another win, look spectacular doing it, and testing what my body feels like at 168 pounds. I am fighting a young, undefeated guy, who was a good amateur and has been waiting for his moment. This is his moment, fighting me. I need to make sure I’m ready because he’s hungry, and beating me changes his life.

“Is this the big fight I wanted, or have been chasing? No. But what am I supposed to do? Sit here and keep waiting for someone to answer the phone or accept one of Eddie’s offers? I’m in the prime of my career, and I want to stay busy and fight as much as possible. With everything going on with COVID, you don’t know what’s going to happen. I have the opportunity to fight now, and I’m taking it. My job is to go out there, take care of business on November 27 and then 2021. It’s time for one of these big names to step up to the plate. You can’t duck me forever. Let’s give the fans what they want and deserve to see.”

The comments under the fight announcement on Matchroom Boxing’s Twitter account are pretty much the consensus of Andrade’s fight. It will be a contest at 168 pounds against Harrison.

????? ???? ? @BooBooAndrade tests the waters at 168lbs on Nov 27, facing unbeaten @Dusty30th over 10 rounds ? @DAZN_USA #AndradeHarrison #JacobsRosado pic.twitter.com/6hVfAWNdZ7

— Matchroom Boxing (@MatchroomBoxing) October 15, 2020

While the fight’s naming seems to be a letdown for everyone, let me try to put out the positives in this fight being made.

(You can’t be serious, right?).

Well, one positive is Harrison (34-0-1 20 KOs) is back in the ring and was one of many fighters who were under the Roc Nation Sports banner, which for the most part, has been keeping fighters as active as my New Year’s Resolutions. Harrison was let free of that in 2018 and is currently promoted by Lee Baxter Promotions. The D.C. Native, also backed by Break Media, is looking not only to pull up the upset but to shut Andrade up.

“This is the opportunity I have been waiting for my entire life,” Harrison stated in the press release. “This is why I started boxing. All of the time I have dedicated to this sport, I finally get my opportunity to show the world who I am and what I am capable of on November 27.

Demetrius talks a big game and says he is the boogeyman of the division, but who has he fought? Then he goes out, fights whoever it is, runs around the ring, picks up a win, and goes back to running his mouth. He says that he is one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world, then ok, so be it, on November 27, I take his spot. I know that people are going to doubt me going into this fight, and that is fine. That fuels my energy. Keep doubting me. Andrade doesn’t know what he got himself into. He better be ready when we step into that ring because I am coming for him.”

While I’m always looking forward to seeing what happens in the ring with this one, my positive spin on this is met with an overwhelming amount of opposition to remind me that this bout isn’t good.

Let’s start with current mandatory challenger Liam Williams, who posted this yesterday about the non-title fight announcement.

? ? @BooBooAndrade you are the worst world champion known to man.. fight someone that wants to beat you.. fucking clown

— Liam Williams ??????? (@Liamwilliamsko) October 15, 2020

Andrade has been slated to fight Williams for his WBO middleweight belt way before the pandemic and has been pretty much calling out everyone except Williams. So it’s no shocker that he would be opposed to this bout.

Let’s face it, this is on paper a poor matchup. However, the conspiracy theorists in me thinks that this fight at 168 would slowly creep him into the title picture for a bout at 168 pounds if he decides to move up. That opponent would be Billy Joe Saunders, As per WBO guidelines g, whenever a champion moves up in weight as a current titleholder, they become the immediate mandatory challenger.

Canelo Alvarez is the mandatory challenger as of this writing as it’s his world in the sport of boxing at any weight class he chooses. That becomes moot currently as he is litigation between DAZN and his promoter Golden BoyPromotions which is only going to have him move up the case docket for the foreseeable future. Andrade has been calling out Sauders for a while and if he looks spectacular against Harrison, I’d expect more of the same.