Notebook: Andrade, Williams come to terms for middleweight title bout in April

Lara motivated with or without belt; Quick hits; Show and tell

Middleweight world titlist Demetrius Andrade and mandatory challenger Liam Williams will meet in April at a site to be determined in the United States, Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn said on Wednesday.

Last Friday, the WBO scheduled a purse bid for the fight on Feb. 10 but that is no longer necessary.

“Pleased to announce terms have been agreed for Demetrius Andrade to face Liam Williams for the WBO world title in April in the USA – full details coming soon,” Hearn wrote on social media.

In response to Hearn’s post, Williams, who has been anxious for the title shot, responded, “There you have it guys. April in USA is where the take over begins!”

Andrade (29-0, 18 KOs), 32, a southpaw from Providence, Rhode Island, has made three successful defenses. He last fought in January 2020 and knocked out Luke Keeler in the ninth round of a one-sided fight.

Williams (23-2-1, 18 KOs), 28, of Wales, has won seven fights in a row since consecutive defeats at junior middleweight to former junior middleweight titlist Liam Smith in 2017.

No title, no problem for Lara

Featherweight Mauricio Lara is disappointed his bout against Josh Warrington will not be for a world title but he said that has not detracted from his desire to pull the upset when they meet at the SSE Arena, Wembley in London on Saturday (DAZN in the United States, Sky Sports in the United Kingdom).

England’s Warrington (30-0, 7 KOs), 30, was initially planning to defend his featherweight belt against Lara (21-2, 14 KOs), 22, of Mexico, but he vacated the 126-pound belt last month rather than abide by the results of an IBF purse bid for a mandatory defense he had no interest in against Kid Galahad, whom he had already defeated. The IBF would not sanction the fight with Lara.

“Initially when I heard it was a world title fight, I was really excited and motivated,” Lara said on a recent media call to discuss the bout. “When the news came that it was no longer going to be a world title fight it didn’t change things. I remained just as motivated. We’ve prepared to do a job and that’s what we’re going to do.

“Recently, becoming a father to a daughter is an extra motivation for me. It’s always an extra motivation for me when I enter the ring, whether that is for training or fighting. I’ve prepared to come and win. I know that I am going to win. I’ve prepared really hard to go to war in the ring. I’m not concerned about the decisions of the judges if it goes to points. We’ve come prepared to win, whether that is by knockout, which would be ideal. But if not, I’m going to make sure it is a clear victory so it doesn’t need to depend on the judges. Either way, I think they will do their jobs correctly.”

Warrington, who as not fought in 16 months, hopes to turn back Lara and move on to a title bout against either Xu Can or Gary Russell Jr.

Quick hits

Roy King Jr. (12-5-1, 6 KOs), a super middleweight from Johnson City, Tennessee, died on Tuesday at a health care facility in New York due to brain injuries suffered in a fight 13 months earlier. He was 42. He was critically injured in an eight-round unanimous decision loss to Sena Agbeko on Jan. 16, 2020, in Nashville, Tennessee. Agbeko dropped King four times, including just before the final bell. He was taken from the ring on a stretcher and rushed to the hospital, where he suffered two strokes and never regained consciousness, according to the Johnson City Press. Agbeko (23-1, 18 KOs), 28, a Ghana native fighting out of Nashville, has not boxed since but is scheduled to face Detroit-based Russian prospect Vladimir Shishkin (11-0, 7 KOs) in a 10-rounder on Feb. 17 on Showtime’s “ShoBox: The New Generation.”

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According to the WBC, former middleweight and super middleweight world titlist Iran Barley has been hospitalized in his native New York due to Covid-19. “The entire WBC family sends their very best wishes for the speedy and total recovery to our beloved champion Iran ‘The Blade’ Barkley,” WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman said in a statement.

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Secondary junior welterweight titlist Mario Barrios (26-0, 17 KOs), 25, of San Antonio, has opened training camp at trainer Virgil Hunter’s gym in Hayward, California, while awaiting a fight date from Premier Boxing Champions. “Leaving home early to start training camp with Virgil has been the game changer in my career,” Barrios said. “It’s a sacrifice that I feel needs to be made as enter the second half of my career. All the fights from here on out will be against top level opposition, and there is no room for error. Everything is on the line each and every time I step in the ring so I’m doing everything in my power to stay on top. I know there are plenty of big names for me to fight that the fans want to see.” He is coming off his first defense, a sixth-round knockout of Ryan Karl on the Gervonta Davis-Leo Santa Cruz PPV undercard on Oct. 31 in San Antonio.

Show and tell

When I think of great body punchers the legendary Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. and Micky Ward are among the first fighters that come to mind. Sure, Chavez is an all-time great and Ward was not on that level, but there is no doubt that if they ever fought body punching would have been a big part of their battle. It was actually scheduled to happen once upon a time as the main event of an HBO card on Dec. 6, 1996 in Reno, Nevada. But Chavez pulled out of the bout on short notice, citing a hand injury. The card went on anyway with the co-feature — Montell Griffin against James Toney in their light heavyweight rematch — taking over the main event slot. Here’s a very cool site poster in my collection featuring the Chavez-Ward fight that never happened.

Andrade photo: Ed Mulholland/Matchroom Boxing