Andrade Responds To Criticism From Atlas

This Friday night, Providence, Rhode Island's Demetrius Andrade will be looking to stay undefeated as he makes his 7th appearance on the popular ESPN “Friday Night Fight” series when he takes on Omar Bell (8-1, 5KO's) at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, CT.  Andrade-Bell is the opening televised bout on the Star Boxing promoted show.  Andrade-Bell is scheduled for eight rounds in the jr. middleweight division.  Also featured on the card is a ten round jr. welterweight showdown between Bayan “The Mongolian Mongoose” Jargal (15-1-3, 10KO's) and “Khanqueror” Breidis Prescott (23-2, 19KO's).

Before Andrade (12-0, 8KO's), who was a 2007 Amateur World Champion and 2008 US Olympian, steps into the ring, he took the time to sit down and talk about his upcoming fight, and also touch on his career up to this point.

Q:  How has training camp been for this fight?

DA:  It's going great, everything is good and I've been training down in Florida and I've been getting really good sparring and my training is going good and I'm excited to get back in there…

Q:  What do you know about your opponent Omar Bell?

DA:  I know he's a busy fighter that's coming off an upset win and he's got a big right hand but when the sound of the “bell” rings…. Well, you know I've gotta take care of business.  Hopefully I ring his “BELL”

Q:  This will be your fourth time fighting at Mohegan Sun since turning pro.  Is it special to you to be able to fight so close to home? DA

DA:  Yea it's great, I love to have my fans support and it's great to see everybody and be close to home.  It doesn't get much better than fighting at Mohegan.

Q:  This will be your 7th time fighting on ESPN.  It is no secret that some boxing insiders, especially Teddy Atlas have been critical about the opponents you have faced, and how you have been progressing.  Can you give us your thoughts on those two matters?

DA:  I know Teddy has some issues with my competition, but maybe everyone just looks bad when they get in with me.  I know I can't worry about everything that everyone else says.  Some of my competition has been weak but most of the fighters have had good winning records and I'm barely 23 and when it's time for me to step it up,  I'll do my thing and hopefully everyone will be happy with my performance.  The main thing is I'm still winning and I'm learning so right now that's all that's important to me.

Q:  With the skill level you have, it is almost a lose lose situation for you sometimes in that if you knock your opponent out people say you should have been matched tougher, if you work on things with them and dominate them in a decision, they say you should have taken him out.  Does this affect your game plan, or mind-set going in to your fights?

DA:  No way,  I'm not worrying about what everyone else thinks and I can't change what I do, besides I couldn't make everybody happy even if I wanted to, haha.  I'll just do my best and keep winning…  

Q:  What kind of performance can we expect to see out of you on the 22nd?  Will you be looking for the knockout?

DA:  A Winning performance, that's all I'm going to guarantee.

Q:  Give me your take on the recent upsets that took place including David Lemuiex and James Kirkland.  Do you think they bounce back and just had bad nights, or do you feel they were exposed?

DA:  I just found out about Kirkland, I can't believe that!  Lemuiex who?  I don't really know him so I can't really say but we're all just one mistake from losing so I'm just glad to still be undefeated.

Q:  Thank you for sitting down with us, is there anything you want to say in closing?

DA:  I want to thank my promoters Joe DeGuardia with Star Boxing and Artie Pelullo with Banner Promotions, and everyone else on my team.  I'm going to do my thing this Friday night and hopefully my fans will be happy.  Also, I just want to thank everyone for their support and tell my family that I love them.

Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased by calling Ticketmaster at 1 (800) 745-3000 or visiting www.ticketmaster.com.  Tickets can also be purchased by calling the Star Boxing office at (718) 823-2000 or visiting www.starboxing.com.  Tickets are also available for purchase at the Mohegan Sun Box Office.  Tickets are priced at $80, $50 and $35.

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