Demetrius Andrade faces Jack Culcay on 3/11

BoxingNews24.com

By Dan Ambrose: Next month, former WBO 154lb champ Demetrius Andrade (23-0, 16 KOs) will be fighting WBA “regular” junior middleweight champion Jack Culcay (22-1, 11 Kos) at the Friedrich-Ebert-Halle in Ludwigshafen, Germany. The two fighters faced each other a decade ago in the amateur ranks in a fight that took place in Chicago, Illinois.

Culcay wasn’t happy with the way the judges scored the fight, because he felt he did better than the lopsided scoring reflected. Andrade won the fight by a 30-11 score. With the fight being in the amateur ranks, Culcay shouldn’t have been surprised at seeing such unusual scores, because that’s been a common theme.

Andrade is ranked #2 with the World Boxing Association. If Culcay was unhappy with the scoring of his previous fight with Andrade, and he clearly was, then he should have pushed his promoters to setup a fight against him a long time ago. Culcay has been a pro since 2009. Surely, he could have fought Andrade a long time ago if he wanted to try and avenge his past defeat.

“Hey Jack, remember 2007,” Andrade said. “Back then we were just two young guys, greenhorns without much power, but I already made easy work of you. This time we’re grown men with punches that can hurt badly. You better get ready to be dominated again. ‘Boo Boo’ is going to make your world title disappear.”

Culcay has already been beaten by Guido Nicholas Pitto by a 12 round split decision four years ago in 2013. Culcay did avenge the defeat by beating Pitto by a 12 round unanimous decision in the rematch in 2013, but it was still very close. It was not the type of performance that suggests that Culcay is much better than him.

On paper, Andrade is a much better fighter than Culcay and he should be able to beat him with ease. However, the fight is going to take place in Germany, and it’s possible that Andrade could come up short in that fight unless he scores a knockout. He needs to make sure he takes the judges out of the equation.

Andrade previously held the WBO World junior middleweight title from 2013 to 2015. Andrade was stripped of his title by the World Boxing Organization for failure to defend it for over a year. It was clearly a mistake on Andrade’s part no to just stay busy fighting whoever. Now that he’s a challenger, he’s finally in position to win another world title after being without a strap for two years.