Zach Parker’s hopes of fighting Demetrius Andrade appear to be over for the time being.
The WBO number one super-middleweight contender had been due to box the two-weight world champion on May 21 for the Interim title, but the bout was postponed when Andrade suffered a shoulder injury in training.
The news crushed Parker’s dreams of fighting outdoors at Pride Park, home of his beloved Derby County Football Club, disappointing a reported 17,000 fans who had already bought tickets.
Today, the WBO announced that they had terminated the sanction approval granted for the Interim title which they described as ‘serving the best interests in the super-middleweight division’.
Yesterday, in a letter to Queensberry Promotions President Frank Warren, Parker’s promoter, the governing body stated that Andrade would be out for four months.
The document reveals that Andrade’s team, in compliance with the WBO’s order, submitted medical documentation on May 6 and 7 summarising the fighter’s condition and advised that a period of four months was needed for rehabilitation. Frank Warren, however, recently revealed that his team had not received any medical paperwork confirming the injury.
Andrade, who still holds the WBO middleweight title, was moving up in weight to pursue a path that he hoped would lead to a fight against super-middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez. A four-month layoff will keep ‘Boo Boo’ out until September, which was when the Mexican had been due to face Gennadiy Golovkin for a third time. That situation was affected when Dmitry Bivol removed Alvarez’ hopes of becoming a two-weight light-heavyweight champion on May 7 with a unanimous points victory.
The WBO’s ruling will be a huge disappointment to the unbeaten Parker (22-0,16 KOs). A victory against Andrade would have propelled the 27-year-old’s career to new heights.
Should Parker’s team now look for a suitable opponent from the current WBO number ten then they will see that the number two and three contenders, David Benavidez and David Lemieux, are fighting one another next weekend. At number four is the Dmitry Salita promoted Aslambek Idigov (21-0, 7 KOs). Nicknamed ‘Hulk’ the 25-year-old Russian is the WBO European title holder. A fight against Parker would see their aggressive styles collide and create a likely entertaining clash.