Junior middleweight prospect Demetirus Andrade was scheduled to face Derek Ennis on this week's edition of Friday Night Fights, but Ennis has pulled out of the bout with an illness. Star Boxing was able to quickly find a replacement, dialing up veteran Terrance Cauthen for the fight, reports ESPN's Dan Rafael.
Andrade (15-0, 10 KO) has become a Friday Night Fights regular in his first few years in the sport. "Boo Boo" was a 2008 American Olympian, and though he did not medal, he still went pro with a lot of high expectations from many observers.
Thus far he hasn't exactly delighted audiences with scintillating performances, and he began to pick up some criticism in the last year or two for facing desperately overmatched opponents. He did face and easily defeat Grady Brewer last August on Friday Night Fights, but even that performance lacked any major spark.
Ennis (23-3-1, 13 KO) was booked as a tough step for Andrade, but with that falling apart, they did about as good as possible on extremely short notice to find a replacement. Cauthen (36-7, 9 KO) isn't a puncher and realistically shouldn't be much of a problem for the 23-year-old Andrade, but the last time we saw him in action, he still looked in good shape and didn't give a poor accounting of himself in a widely scored but not uncompetitive loss in the U.K. to John O'Donnell.
Andrade isn't particularly pleased with the switch, as Cauthen is a southpaw and Ennis is not:
"He's not happy because he trained six weeks for a right-hander and now he is faced with a completely different style," [matchmaker Ron] Katz said. "But being the type of kid he is, he is stepping up to the plate. Some fighters can be a wuss about it, but he said if it's what he has to do, it's what he has to do."
Cauthen, 35, is also a former Olympian, winning bronze as a lightweight in 1996. He hasn't fought since January 2011, when he won a six-round decision over Phillip McCants in New Jersey.
Friday Night Fights is live on ESPN2 and ESPN3, with the start time returned to 9 p.m. EST this week. The welterweight co-feature will be a 10-round fight between Raymond "Tito" Serrano (17-0, 8 KO) and Kenny Abril (11-4-1, 6 KO).