Paulie Malignaggi caught up with FightHype after Jermall Charlo knocked out Julian Williams to give his take on super-talented junior middleweight Demetrius Andrade.
Andrade has spent far more time out of the ring than in it, particularly during what should be the apex of his career, but he’s on the hunt for a big fight against one of the Charlo brothers.
In this video interview, Malignaggi gives his assessment of Andrade’s career to date...
On Andrade feeling that he should be in the mix with Canelo Alvarez and the Charlo brothers:
“He should, he should. He’s a product of this shitty business and, you know, there’s not a lot of marketing in boxing a lot of times, and a lot of these promoters are lazy. A lot of people on his team I don’t think do the job right for him and they don’t get his name out there enough.
“Demetrius does his job every time he goes out there - and that’s fight, and fight very well - and look spectacular in doing so every time, and he needs a team that does the same job and has the same passion for him as he has for his own training and his own fighting.
“This is a guy that when I saw him at 17-years-old I felt like he would be a surefire Hall of Famer on day, you know, and he continues to show me that but unfortunately if they don’t raise his profile, if they don’t raise his name and get him the big fights and the big opportunities, and even make him a household name, they’re gonna waste all that talent and they’re not even gonna let him be a Hall of Famer - it’s a joke, man.
“That’s why the Boxing Hall of Fame, to a degree, is almost comical at times. Because you don’t always get in there just because you might be the best. You need everybody’s help to push you forward and get you the big fights, get you the marketing, and get you the notoriety, and Demetrius Andrade right now is not getting that and I’d like to see that.”
On Andrade saying he would be open to moving to 160 to take on Gennady Golovkin:
“Yeah because that’s the position they put you in at a certain point. You cannot get fights...You start getting put into a tough position, behind the 8-ball, where you just gotta take the toughest guys who nobody wants to fight because you have no other choice. Trust me, I been there, believe me...When you’re in that position, the last and only card you have left is to do that, and not to say he doesn’t have the skills to do it, but it’s going to be very difficult.”