Ringside Report: WBO Champ Andrade stops Quigley in 2; Reis Tops Camara in Scorcher

MANCHESTER, NH —Though its name was recently changed from the Verizon Wireless Arena to the SNHU Arena, Demetrius Andrade is no stranger to this entertainment venue.

No, “Boo-Boo” knows ManchVegas well.

In 2010, 2011 and 2012, Andrade fought here, headlining ‘Fight To Educate’ charity boxing cards against decidedly limited opposition. In the ensuing decade, not a lot has changed for Andrade. He doesn’t fight often and when he does, it’s always against another overmatched opponent.

Hopefully this changes soon.

Tonight in ‘Live Free or Die’ New Hampshire, Andrade, now 31-0 (19), successfully defended his WBO middleweight belt for the fifth time, defeating 30-year-old Jason Quigley, 19-2 (14) via all-too easy second round TKO. After a slow start in the first, Andrade turned up the heat and scored a knockdown late in the frame. In the second, Andrade picked up where he left off, blasting Quigley to the canvas in a neutral corner where referee Arthur Mercante Jr. called a halt.

Time of the stoppage was 2:24.

Andrade, 33, now hopes that his promotional outfit and the network he fights on can finally get him a big money fight. “If Matchroom and DAZN do their jobs, the people are gonna turn out.”

Eddie Hearn swears he can’t find anyone willing to fight the unbeaten WBO middleweight champion and that’s why Andrade had to settle for the “challenge” of Jason Quigley in the other, less-known Manchester. “He’s the most avoided fighter I’ve ever worked with,” says Hearn.

If you believe Eddie’s hype, the best middleweight fighters in the world are ducking the slick southpaw from Providence, Rhode Island because he represents all risk and very little reward.

The truth is that Andrade has little fanbase outside Providence and the actual ticket seller tonight was Jason Quigley. If it wasn’t for the Irish coming in through Boston to see him fight in New Hampshire, there’d be little local interest in the rest of the card’s offerings, including Andrade. Hearn tried to book the Boston Garden for this show but had to settle for Manchester’s SNHU.

Andrade wants to know who’s next.

It really should be Gennady Golovkin.

“Where you at GGG?” asks “Boo-Boo” and it’s not hard to see why. The unification matchup should be easy to make. Both boxers are current belt holders at middleweight and both have a need to be involved in much more high-profile bouts. Andrade has never had a big fight while the post-Canelo “Triple G” now fights lower tier opponents including his next foe, 16-2 Ryota Murata.

Andrade wants the winner of Golovkin-Murata and he bristles with contempt at the notion that Jamie Munguia will get a shot at GGG before he ever does. “Let’s make these big fights happen.”

DAZN Televised Co-Features 

In the most competitive female fight this writer has ever reported on live from ringside, Kali Reis, 138, 19-7-1 (5), Providence, RI, scored a brutal 10-round split decision over 33-year-old Jessica “The Cobra” Camara, 139, 8-3, Montreal, Canada to retain her WBA female super lightweight championship. Scores: 97-93 Reis, 95-94 Camara and 97-93 Reis. With the victory, Reis, 35, adds the vacant WBO championship and continues on in the “Road to Undisputed” tournament. She will now face WBC champion Chantelle Cameron for all the belts.

“Camara was tough, hats off to her,” said Reis.

WBC flyweight champion Julio Cesar Martinez, 111.4, 18-1 (14), Mexico City, retained his title via ‘No Decision’ after two rounds were complete against McWilliams Arroyo, 111.6, Puerto Rico, 21-5 (16). Both boxers scored clean knockdowns in the first round and it looked like a war was brewing. In the second round, Arroyo, 35, suffered a bad cut around his right eye from an unintentional headbutt and he was then pushed to the canvas for what was ruled an official knockdown. The fight was stopped in the corner on advice of the ringside physician. This was Arroyo’s third shot at the flyweight title, and a terrible disappointment. A rematch is in order.

Unified WBA and IBF super bantamweight champion Murodjon Akhmadaliev, 121.8, 10-0 (7), Chust, Uzbekistan, got off to a fast start and it looked like he might score an early knockout. Instead, his 32-year-old opponent Jose Velasquez, 121.6, 29-7-2 (19), Quellion, Chile, showed why in his six previous losses, he’d never been knocked out. He took everything the 27-year-old Akhmadaliev threw at him and made a very compelling fight of it even if the judge’s didn’t reflect it in their unanimous 119-109 scoring. Velasquez did pushups and backflips after the final bell.

Non-Televised Undercard 

Southpaw heavyweight Demsey “The Tower” McKean, 243, 20-0 (13), in his first fight outside of Australia, pounded out a sixth round TKO over overweight Don Haynesworth, 293, 16-5-1 (14), New Rochelle, NY. McKean has been in camp with Anthony Joshua and Dillian Whyte. He is ranked by the ABC orgs and says that a fight with Joseph Parker in Australia would be a big.

Cruiserweight Tommy “The Kid” O’Toole, 2-0 (1), Galway, Ireland, promised to impress and he certainly did, blowing away Mark Malone, 1-2, Longview, Texas at 1:31 of the first round. Malone was down for a good while after a flush left hook dumped him into a corner and onto his face.

Super lightweight Nelson Perez, 5-0, (2), Marlboro, Mass dominated Raymundo Rios Cardiel, 3-8-2 (3), Durango, Mexico over four. Perez scored left hook knockdowns in the first and second before Rios steadied himself and went the distance. Scores: 40-34 on all three scorecards.

In the opening bout of the evening, light heavyweight prospect Khalil “Big Steppa” Coe, 1-0-1, Jersey City, NJ was held to a 4-round majority draw by Aaron Caspe, 6-4-2, Augusta, Georgia. Scores were 39-37 and 38-38 twice. Coe got hit an awful lot by his journeyman opponent. A member of Team Coe told me their fighter was suffering dehydration from food poisoning.

***

Boxing Writer Jeffrey Freeman grew up in the City of Champions, Brockton, Massachusetts from 1973 to 1987, during the Marvelous career of Marvin Hagler. JFree then lived in Lowell, Mass during the best years of Irish Micky Ward’s illustrious career. A former member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and a Bernie Award Winner in the Category of Feature Story Under 1500 Words. Freeman covers boxing for The Sweet Science in New England. 

Photo credit: Ed Mulholland/Matchroom

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