Demetrius Andrade vs. Brian Rose: Preview and Prediction for Title Fight
Demetrius Andrade returns to the ring on Saturday night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, making the first defense of his WBO Junior Middleweight Championship against once-beaten Brit Brian Rose.
Andrade captured the vacant title by outpointing Vanes Martirosyan in a somewhat boring fight back in November. He's known as more of a boxer than a puncher and has a tricky, awkward style that makes him a difficult style matchup for most fighters.
Rose has won 11 straight fights since being stopped by Max Maxwell in 2010. That loss looks a lot more ugly than it truly is, given there are some serious mitigating factors. The Brit has scored a couple of notable wins in that stretch and will be highly motivated in his first fight stateside.
This is your complete preview and prediction for Andrade vs. Rose with the WBO 154-pound title at stake.
Tale of the Tape
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All stats and information per BoxRec.com.
| Demetrius Andrade | Brian Rose | |
| Record | 20-0, 13 KO | 25-1-1, 7 KO |
| Age | 26 | 31 |
| Height | 6'1" | 6'0" |
| Weight | 153.75 lbs (last fight) | 152.5 lbs (last fight) |
| Reach | Not Listed | Not Listed |
| Stance | Southpaw | Orthodox |
| Hometown | Providence, Rhode Island | Blackpool, Lancashire, United Kingdom |
| Rounds Boxed | 86 | 192 |
| Last Fight | SD 12 Vanes Martirosyan (11/9/13) | SD 12 Javier Francisco Maciel (10/26/13) |
Main Storylines
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Andrade is a former Olympian, having represented the United States at the 2008 Summer Games. He failed to medal in Beijing but did have a decorated amateur career, winning the United States Amateur Boxing Championships in 2005 and multiple National Golden Gloves Championships.
He's a slick boxer with a tricky style and seems to be coming into his own as a professional. "Boo Boo" captured his first world title in his last fight, outpointing Martirosyan by split decision—it should've been unanimous—in a lackluster affair to capture the WBO's 154-pound strap.
This will be the first time he steps through the ropes with a belt around his waist, and he has an opportunity to continue establishing himself as one of the better young fighters in a crowded junior middleweight mix.
Rose became the WBO's mandatory challenger last October, outpointing the rugged Argentine Javier Francisco Maciel—who just upset Jorge Melendez as a late substitute on the Cotto vs. Martinez undercard—at home in the United Kingdom. He has a couple of other recognizable names on his resume, but he's also been defeated by a fighter who went on to lose 38 of his next 45 fights.
His defeat by Max Maxwell has some backstory: Rose had defeated Jason Rushton in his previous fight, a result that left his opponent in a medically induced coma and fighting for his life. The events of that fight affected Rose by his own admission, leaving him mentally unprepared for his next fight.
Rose has shown an ability to respond to adversity, winning 11 straight bouts since that defeat and positioning himself as a potential world champion.
Strengths
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Andrade has tremendous physical tools and was a decorated amateur champion before turning professional. He's extremely athletic, fights out of a tricky southpaw stance and possesses a crisp right jab that makes it easy for him to control the distance of the fight.
He's a boxer-puncher, but his style weighs heavily to the boxer side of that spectrum.
The combination of Andrade's jab with his head and foot movement makes him a very difficult fighter to hit cleanly. His style has been described as awkward and even a touch boring in the past, but it doesn't matter as long as he wins.
Rose is a tough customer who has shown the ability to successfully respond to some serious in-ring adversity. He mentally recovered from some pretty tough circumstances and went on to defeat the only man who ever bested him in the ring in their rematch.
Unlike many of his opponents, Andrade won't have a size edge on Rose. The Brit has good size for a junior middleweight and has one of the most underrated characteristics for a fighter: He believes in himself.
Rose has quick hands and is coming to the Barclays Center to win, not just be an opponent. That determination makes him dangerous.
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Weaknesses
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Andrade is a bit of a work in progress, and he's not the most rounded fighter you'll ever see fighting on a world-class level. A lot of that has to do with the way that he was matched while coming up the ranks, seldom seeing an opponent with much of a pulse in front of him.
It was only in his last fight, a split-decision win over Martirosyan that should've been unanimous, that he really stepped up his opposition level. And truth be told there's really nothing that special about Martirosyan either.
Andrade is still relatively untested, even as he holds a world championship, and we don't know how he'll fare against a really determined foe committed to making a fight.
Rose has one big gaping flaw in his game: The 29-year-old Brit has only seven knockout victories among 25 career wins. He's not much of a puncher—and that might be understating things.
That number looks even worse when you consider that Rose has really only faced domestic fighters in his native England, and his only significant wins came against badly faded fighters like Vivian Harris.
It's hard to see how a fighter without significant punching power is going to be able to get through and upset Andrade.
Demetrius Andrade Will Win If...
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Andrade is not the type of fighter to fight down to his level of competition. That's not meant to be disrespectful of Rose, but rather just to point out that the champion remains as humble and determined with a belt as he was without one.
He got right back into the gym after his title-winning victory over Martirosyan and immediately began preparing for his next fight. There was simply no time to rest on his laurels.
That means that you should expect him to walk into the ring on Saturday night prepared both mentally and physically, ready to roll.
Andrade is a boxer-puncher, but he's much happier boxing an opponent than fighting him. He needs to get his punches off first, using his jab as both a rangefinder and a distance-controller, making sure that Rose doesn't have a chance to get set up and comfortable in the fight.
He needs to box effectively, keep his jab in Rose's face and maintain a consistent work rate.
Andrade is simply the more skilled fighter, and if he does what he does best he will win this fight.
Brian Rose Will Win If...
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Rose has an uphill slog in this fight.
He's determined and gritty, yes, but he isn't on the same level as Andrade in terms of pure skill and doesn't have the power, it would seem, to give him a ton of trouble.
Rose's best chance is to make this something of an ugly fight. That's not overly difficult against Andrade, but he'll need to do it by being rough, getting on the inside and taking away his space to box from the outside.
It's hard to see how the Brit captures his first world title by outboxing the champion, who is superior in the technical aspects of the game, so he'll need to be highly aggressive and take the fight to him.
If Rose can get on the inside, force Andrade to fight more than he's comfortable and make this into a rough, ugly contest, he has a chance of scoring the upset.
But those are a lot of ifs.
And the Winner Will Be...
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Rose is a tough customer. He's determined, he's overcome a lot to get here and he's coming to win.
But Andrade is just on a different level.
Beating domestic fighters in England, many of them barely reaching club-level status, is one thing. Coming to another country and taking a world title from a fighter who has you bested in every technical category is another.
Andrade will win this fight by doing what he does best: boxing at distance and not giving his opponent any opportunities to get going offensively.
Boo Boo has a long, crisp right jab. His defensive skills are superior, and he should be able to use his head and foot movement to frustrate Rose very quickly.
The Brit will try to make a fight of it by getting on the inside and making it rough, but more often than not he'll get picked off before he gets there or tied up once he's inside.
Andrade is a pro. He's knows that bigger and better things can come after this fight but that he must first take care of business here. That's exactly what he'll do, winning a comfortable unanimous decision in his first title defense.
Prediction: Andrade UD 12 Rose (117-111)
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