Demetrius Andrade outclasses Walter Kautondokwa, takes WBO title

Demetrius Andrade is once again a world champion, taking the WBO middleweight title with a dominant performance against Walter Kautondokwa in a DAZN main event.

Andrade started the fight quickly, dropping the fighter from Namibia in the opening round with a left hand (which was probably more a result of their feet getting tangled on replay). That sequence also sparked a little bit of controversy, however, because once Kautondokwa hit the deck Andrade followed up with another clean shot that appeared to land while Kautondokwa was down. The referee let it go though, so it is what it is...

In the third round Andrade dropped Kautondokwa again, a monster left hand that Andrade was positive was a fight-ending punch. Andrade jump onto the ropes to celebrate but Kautondokwa would manage to make it back to his feet before the 10 count, stunning Andrade and just about everyone else.

Then in the fourth Andrade would get into an exchange with Kautondokwa where both fighters would land punches simultaneously, but only Kautondokwa hit the canvas. Actually, Andrade’s glove also appeared to touch the canvas too, which should have made it a double knockdown, but the referee didn’t seem to see that. Either way, Andrade would come right back with another counter left hand in the same round that put Kautondokwa for the fourth time. Kautondokwa still made it back to his feet!

Andrade, who shrugged at the crowd because he couldn’t keep Kautondokwa down for good, then decided to mostly box his way to victory, by this time up huge on the scorecards. He would keep up his dominance until the final bell, earning a unanimous decision win on two scores of 120-104 and 119-105. BLH also scored the fight a shutout for Andrade, 120-104.

Final CompuBox stats had Andrade landing 152 of 501 total punches (30.3%) while Kautondokwa landed only 45 of 325 total punches (13.8%).

In the post-fight interview, Andrade (26-0, 16 KOs) offered these thoughts on what winning the WBO world title means to him.