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Name: Demetrius Caesar Andrade
Career Record: click
Alias: Boo Boo
Nationality: American
Birthplace: Providence, RI USA
Hometown: Providence, RI USA
Born: 1988-02-26
Height: 6' 1"
Manager, Trainer: Paul Andrade (father)
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Professional Career
Amateur Career
DEMETRIUS CAESAR ANDRADE (Debut)...
2008 United States Olympian, 152 pounds...
2007 World Championships amateur champion, 152 pounds...
2007 National Golden Gloves amateur champion, 152 pounds...
2006 U.S. National amateur champion, 152 pounds...
2006 National Golden Gloves amateur champion, 152 pounds...
2005 U.S. National amateur champion, 152 pounds...
Only 20 years old, Demetrius will make his pro debut on October 23. A sensational prospect at 154 pounds, he is a former international amateur standout and represented the United States in the 2008 Olympics.
Dan Rafael wrote on ESPN.com [excerpts]: Demetrius Andrade, the 2008 U.S. Olympic boxer widely regarded as the No. 1 professional prospect from Team USA, is turning pro.
The 20-year-old from Providence, R.I., signed a multiyear promotional agreement to be co-promoted by Joe DeGuardia’s Star Boxing and Artie Pelullo’s Banner Promotions....
Andrade entered the Olympics as the reigning world amateur welterweight champion. He also was a two-time U.S. national champion and two-time national Golden Gloves champion.
Although Andrade won a pair of Olympic bouts in Beijing to advance to the quarterfinals, he lost a controversial 11-9 decision to South Korea’s Kim Jung-Joo in one of the most questionable results in a tournament littered with debate over the inconsistent scoring. [End Rafael item]
From the Providence Journal, Aug. 23, 2008, by Robert Lee [excerpts]: It was the opportunity of a lifetime, so Demetrius Andrade left his family and friends 10 months before the Beijing Olympics to train with the U.S. boxing team at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo.
When it was all said and done, he didn’t bring home the gold medal that he had dreamed about winning when he first put on boxing gloves at the age of 6, but, he said, he earned something more valuable - the ability to be a role model and a positive influence on the lives of today’s young people.
He didn’t know just how much of a role model he was to others until he began reading some of the notes from well-wishers on his Web site, www.boobooboxing.com.
“At the end of the day, everybody kept telling me that I’m an inspiration, I’m a role model to these young kids, so that’s what I’m grateful for,” Andrade said. “I didn’t come back with the medal, but I know I made a change. I made everybody believe that they can do the same thing, so that’s what really counts.”
He said the biggest thing that he wants kids to know is that they can do anything if they put their hearts and minds into it, and “don’t let anyone ever tell you that you can’t do it.”
“They showed me a lot of love,” Andrade said of his fans. “That gave me courage to keep on going. I fought my heart out, out there.”
As hard as he worked, Andrade was denied a chance to fight for the gold medal. He lost a controversial 11-9 decision to South Korea’s Kim Jungjoo in the quarterfinals.
But when the 20-year-old welterweight arrived at T.F. Green Airport late Tuesday night, he said he got the best award that he could ever receive - his 2-year-old daughter, Autumn.
“It was good to see my family, my loved ones, my little daughter, it was great to be home,” said Andrade, who credits his family for much of his success. “It had been a rough year for me [being away from friends and family] and I can’t say I went out without a bang. The judges took the fight from me, but I’ll say I had a great year [of boxing] at the end of the day.”
The fight that he referred to was his battle with Jungjoo. Andrade, trailing by one point entering the second round, appeared to control the action in the second, third, and fourth rounds, but he still ended up losing in the judges’ eyes.
He was heartbroken after the fight. He says he is still hurting from the decision and that’s why he didn’t tell anyone except his family he was coming home Tuesday night.
“I really didn’t want too many people there because I was still a little emotionally hurt, but now I’m clearing up,” Andrade said. “I’m letting everybody come see me and I’m going to see everybody else, but when I was at the airport, I just wanted to see my mom and [my immediate family].”
His stepmom, Sharon Parker, was the first to reach Andrade when he got off the plane. “She gave me a big kiss and just said, ‘I love you, don’t worry about it.’ There really wasn’t too much said in the beginning, but as the days went on, we started talking about it a little bit more.”
Slowly, the heartache from the loss began to fade. Andrade said it has helped spending almost every minute that he has been home with Autumn. While he was away training for the Olympics, he said he missed Autumn’s first words and her first steps. Now that he is back, she is showing him everything that she can do, and he loves it.
“I’ve just been chilling, hanging out at my house, playing with my little girl,” Andrade said about what he’s been up to since he returned to Providence. “She has been trying to show me everything that I’ve missed so it’s just great to be back. She’s talking now and talking about, ‘give me daps.’ It’s beautiful.”
Andrade has been ranked as the top amateur 152-pound fighter in the country for more than three years.
“The whole plan is to go pro and maybe get one or two fights in by the end of the year,” Andrade said. “There is no point for me to sit back and wait. I’ve been doing this for 15 years and nothing should be stopping me, so I’m going to take a little vacation and then it’s back to the gym, back to the drawing board.”
“I had a great amateur career,” Andrade said. “I’ve been the man for the last four years, but it’s time to move on. I can’t let the past affect the future. I have to move on and work even harder for these pro games and make a new name for myself.”
So what’s Andrade’s goal going to be as a pro fighter?
“To get those [world title] belts,” Andrade said. “I will get them belts. No judges are going to stop me from getting those belts.” [End Journal item]
Paul Andrade, Demetrius’ father, said that the family is of Cape Verdean descent and pronounce their last name “ANN-drade.”
Demetrius said, “I was born and raised in Providence. My dad’s a contractor. I’ve got three brothers. They all used to box, but they don’t no more.
“I started boxing when I was six. My older brothers were into it. It was just fun to me as a little kid – hitting the bags, fooling around, swinging on the bags, stuff like that.
“I probably had 200 amateur fights. After my first or second fight, I didn’t keep count.
“I’m an all-around boxer, all-around athlete. I can move, bang, slip and slide.
“I train at a gym called ‘401 Boxing.’ I’ve been training here my whole career. I usually travel for sparring.
“I’ve got a daughter named Autumn, she just turned two.”
Demetrius’ family and friends call him, “Boo Boo.” Demetrius’ dad said, “We’ve called him that since he was a baby.”
AMATEUR HIGHLIGHTS:
2008 OLYMPICS, Beijing, China, 152 pounds: in his first fight on August 10 he won an 11-9 decision against Kahaber Jvania of the Republic of Georgia; the Associated Press reported from ringside [excerpts]: Andrade also had to be the bigger man in his 11-9 victory over Kakhaber Jvania of Georgia, who charged, pushed and shoved the Rhode Island native all night. Andrade got few chances to show off his peerless reflexes, but kept his composure with just enough counterpunching, including the clinching point on a whip-quick left hand in the final seconds.
“I fought him in the world championships, and he did the exact same thing,” said Andrade, who thought the judges missed several of his fast scoring punches. “It was a rough fight. Nobody in there wants to box me, so I guess I’m going to have to slug it out, bang out the body shots and then go back to boxing.”
At least the American team received its second day of loud cheers after years of being booed in every international competition.
“It felt good,” Andrade said. “That gave me a boost to keep on going, even though I knew the score wasn’t fair.” [End AP item]
In Demetrius’ second Olympic fight on August 14, he won a 14-3 decision against Andrey Balanov of Russia; the Boston Globe reported from ringside [excerpts]: Demetrius Andrade fought Andre Balanov once before. It didn’t turn out so well.
“I was 16,” he explains. “It was my first trip abroad. I was a little nervous. I had no power. I couldn’t hold the guy.”
They met again Thursday night in a second-round...Olympic welterweight match at the Worker’s Gymnasium. By any measure, it was a rout. In the arcane, impenetrable scoring system that pollutes Olympic boxing these days, the official tally was 14-3. Two of the Russian’s 3 points came via a penalty for “low ducking.” [End Boston Globe item]
In the Olympic quarterfinals on August 17, Demetrius lost an 11-9 decision against Jung Koo Kim of Korea; USA Boxing reported in a press release [excerpts]: Andrade took the ring first at the Workers Indoor Arena and his first round was a tactical chess match throughout with neither boxer looking to engage, causing the referee to warn both boxers twice to throw punches. Kim scored the lone point of the opening round in the final second to take a 1-0 lead after the first. Andrade came out firing in the second, but again trailed by one point after four minutes of boxing. He continued to try and dent Kim’s lead in the third, looking to land body shots and combinations but faced an 8-6 deficit as the final round began. Andrade pulled the bout to within one in the final minute but couldn’t claim the lead and lost the 11-9 final decision.
“I thought I landed and threw a lot of punches, but the judges weren’t giving me my points and there was nothing I could do about it. I tried to go to the body, slow him down. It was working but I wasn’t getting any points for it,” Andrade said. “I was laughing because I knew I was fighting a Korean, and I was thinking they might pull the Jones on me and they did. Jones lost to the Korean and so did I.” [End USA Boxing item]
2007 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS, Chicago Ill., 152 pounds – GOLD MEDALIST: in his first fight on 10-25-07 he won a 22-11 decision against Kahaber Jvania of the Republic of Georgia; in his second fight on 10-28-07 he won a 19-3 decision against Dmitrijs Sostaks of Latvia; in his third fight on 10-31-07 he won a 26-6 decision against Magomed Nurutdinov of Bulgaria; in the quarterfinals on 11-1-07 he won a 30-9 decision against Jack Robert Culcay of Germany; in the semifinals on 11-2-07 he won a 22-6 decision against Adem Kilici of Turkey; in the finals 11-3-07 he stopped Manon Boonjumnong of Thailand at 1:45 of the 2nd round...
2007 U.S. OLYMPIC TEAM TRIALS, Houston, Tex., 152 pounds – GOLD MEDALIST: in the quarterfinals on on 8-20-07 he stopped David Lopez of Parma, Id., at 0:31 of the 3rd round; in the semifinals on 8-21-07 he stopped Charles Hatley of Dallas, Tex., at 1:22 of the 3rd round; in the semifinals of the winners bracket on 8-22-07 he won a 27-13 decision against Keith Thurman of St. Peterburg, Fla. in the finals on 8-25-07 he won a 21-13 decision against Keith Thurman of St. Peterburg, Fla....
2007 PAN AMERICAN GAMES, Rio de Janiero, Brazil, 152 pounds – SILVER MEDALIST: in his first fight on on 7-20-07 he won a 23-5 decision against John Jackson of the Virgin Islands; in the quarterfinals on 7-22-07 he stopped Jean Prada Pasedo of Venezuela at 1:04 of the 3rd round; in the semifinals on 7-24-07 he won a 22-0 decision against Diego Chaves of Argentina; in the finals on 7-27-07 he lost a 7-6 decision against Pedro Lima of Brazil...
2007 U.S. NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS, Colorado Springs, Colo., 152 pounds: in the quarterfinals on 6-5-07 he won a 27-13 decision against Dominique Dolton of Detroit, Mich.; in the semifinals on 6-6-07 he lost on medical disqualification against Mahlon Kerwick of Ft. Carson, Colo....
2007 NATIONAL GOLDEN GLOVES, Chattanooga, Tenn., 152 pounds – GOLD MEDALIST: in his first fight on 5-2-07 he won a 5-0 decision against Miguel Beltran of of W. Jordan, Ut.; in the quarterfinals on 5-3-07 he won a 5-0 decision against Jesse Lubash of Munhall, Penn.; in the semifinals on 5-4-07 he won a 5-0 decision against Javonn Barnes of Muskegon, Mich,; in the finals on 5-5-07 he won a 4-1 decision against Charles Hatley of Dallas, Tex....
2007 PAN AM BOX-OFFS, Colorado Springs, Colo., 152 pounds – GOLD MEDALIST: in the semifinals on 1-20-07 he won a 11-7 decision against Keith Thurman of Oldsmar, Fla.; in the finals on 1-21-07 he won a 32-11 decision against Peter Haro of Inglewood, Calif....
2006 NATIONAL GOLDEN GLOVES, Omaha, Neb., 152 pounds – GOLD MEDLIST: in his first fight on 4-26-06 he won a 4-1 decision against Delvaughn Williams of Cleveland, Oh.; in the quarterfinals on 4-27-06 he won a 5-0 decision against Anthony Martinez of of Las Vegas, Nev.; in the semifinals on 4-28-06 he won a 5-0 decision against Greg Carter of Weaterbury, Conn.; in the finals on 4-29-06 he won a 5-0 decision against Fernando Guerrero of Salisbury, MD....
2006 U.S. NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS, Colorado Springs, Colo., 152 pounds – GOLD MEDALIST: in his first fight on 3-7-06 he won a 20-4 decision against Lucas Galle ofRio Rancho, N.M.; in the quarterfinals on 3-8-06 he won a 20-11 decision against Charles Hatley of Dallas, Tex.; in the semifinals on 3-9-06 he won a 20-5 decision against Peter Haro of Inglewod, Calif.; in the finals on 3-11-06 he won a 22-10 decision against Boyd Melson of Fort Carson, Colo....
2005 U.S. NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS, Colorado Springs, Colo., 152 pounds – GOLD MEDALIST: in his first fight on 3-16-05 he won a 16-10 decision against Jason Montgomery of Hayward, Calif.; in the quarterfinals on 3-17-05 he won a 27-7 decision agianst Cedric Armstrong of Portland, Ore.; in the semifinals on on 3-18-05 he won an 18-10 decision agianst Austin Trout of Las Cruces, N.M.; in the finals on 3-19-05 he won an 18-12 decision against Danny Jacobs of Brooklyn, N.Y....
External Links
Demetrius Andrade - Official Website |
