By: Hans Themistode
For the past few years, promoter Eddie Hearn has had front row tickets to watch Demetrius Andrade fight in the ring. Normally, oftentimes pretty early, Hearn would simply shake his head as the WBO middleweight belt holder outclasses his opponents.
Roughly one week ago, Hearn shook his head once again as Andrade cruised to a unanimous decision victory against a game but clearly overmatched Liam Williams. Immediately following the win, Hearn called for a showdown between Andrade and WBC belt holder, Jermall Charlo. The two have gone back and forth for years but haven’t been able to come to an agreement behind the scenes for their contest to become a reality.
Although Charlo or IBF titlist Gennadiy Golovkin would be his first choice, Hearn could steer Andrade towards a top contender for a high-profile fight instead.
“Eubank vs Andrade, I like this fight,” said Hearn while on Instagram live.
Eubank Jr., 31, currently holds the WBA interim middleweight crown following a somewhat fortunate win against Matt Korobov in December of 2019. The Russian native appeared to win the opening round between the pair but was forced to throw in the towel following a shoulder injury in the second.
Since then, Eubank Jr. (29-2, 22 KOs) has sat idly on the sidelines. He’ll look to work off a bit of ring rust when he returns this Saturday night against fringe contender Marcus Morrison. For the British product, he’s expressed a desire to face all of the top names in the division, most specifically, Eubank Jr. is targeting a showdown against WBA full titleholder, Ryota Murata.
His plans to dethrone Murata, however, could become sidetracked if Hearn has it his way. The longtime promoter doesn’t want to put too much of his focus on the possibility of Andrade and Eubank Jr. stepping into the ring against one another. But, if the British native takes care of business come Saturday night, he’ll give it more thought.
“Let’s see what happens on Saturday with Chris Eubank but I have no problem bringing Andrade to the U.K. to fight Chris Eubank Jr. for the world title.”