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Two-division titleholder and reigning WBO middleweight titleholder Demetrius Andrade returns to the ring on Saturday, headlining a DAZN-streamed card from his hometown of Providence, Rhode Island.
The 31-year-old Andrade (27-0, 17 KO) wants to look good at home, of course.
“Fighting at home is really exciting,” said Andrade. “In a way it’s more exciting for the fans in Providence as I’ve fought all over the world already. So to give my hometown the chance to watch me display my skills, talent, work ethic is going to be great for them — they’re going to see greatness from one of their own. I’ve got two full passports from traveling the world and it’s a privilege to do that, to see the world and learn and gain experience, so to come home for such a big fight is great.”
Andrade has won belts at 154 and 160, and is currently the only man standing between Canelo Alvarez and an undisputed crown at middleweight. Still, he hasn’t achieved the stardom of Alvarez or Gennadiy Golovkin, and he knows that.
“I’m an Olympian and a two-weight world champion, but that’s not enough because there’s a lot of people that haven’t seen my talent displayed in the mainstream like some other fighters, like Canelo Alvarez, as Golden Boy did a great job moving him and GGG had great promotion, too, but they’re not the greatest talents out there, they are just the most popular. It’s called prize fighting and I am looking to capitalize on that, with the capital,” Andrade said.
“I’ve got air in me now. Should I have been the guy like Canelo with the machine behind him? Yeah, I could’ve been that, but it didn’t fall that way for me, but now I’m here. I kept my focus in mind, body and soul and continued to grind, because anyone else, this boxing game is hard and people give up, especially when there’s no money coming in as you have to pay the bills.”
Sulecki (28-1, 11 KO) is a formidable challenger, a man who did have late struggles last time out against Gabriel Rosado, but also pushed Daniel Jacobs to the bring in a close decision loss in 2018.