Demetrius Andrade has vowed to “be crowned champion” following his junior middleweight clash of unbeatens with Vanes Martirosyan for the WBO’s vacant belt on the undercard of the Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.–Brian Vera super middleweight bout on Sept. 7 at Staples Center in Los Angeles.

“I am looking forward to this fight, and have been waiting for this fight ever since I walked into the gym at age 7. I always wanted to be champion of the world, and on Sept. 7, I will be crowned champion,” Andrade, who is 25, said of the event that is promoted by Top Rank and televised on HBO.

“I wanted to win an Olympic gold medal, and since they took that from me, I am going to take this world title. I was a 2008 Olympian and he made it in 2004. I will show him that if I was around in 2003 and 2004, he would not have made the team.”

Martirosyan (33-0-1, 21 knockouts) and Andrade (19-0, 13 KOs) are ranked Nos. 1 and 2 by the WBO. The former titleholder, Zaurbek Baysangurov, suffered an injury that forced him to vacate the belt.

Co-promoted by Banner Promotions and Star Boxing, Andrade was last in the ring for a unanimous decision over Freddy Hernandez in January, after a streak of four consecutive stoppage victories. Martirosyan, 27, is coming off a second-round knockout of Ryan Davis in June that followed a draw with Erislandy Lara in November of last year.

“This will be an outstanding fight, and we worked hard on getting this fight on HBO. We feel that Demetrius has all the talent to become a star in this sport and only needed the opportunity on this kind of stage,” said Artie Pelullo, Andrade’s promoter with Banner.

“On Sept. 7, he will get that chance. I want to thank my partner Joe DeGuardia, HBO, Top Rank and the WBO for making this great fight. I have a feeling that after Sept. 7, not only will Demetrius be a world champion, but he will be a household name and in line for even bigger fights.”

Lem Satterfield can be reached at [email protected]