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Demetrius Andrade in search of opponent with Erislandy Lara a no-go

Fighters Network
06
Apr

Promoter Artie Pelullo was under the impression that Erislandy Lara and his fighter, Demetrius Andrade would be able to strike a deal for a junior middleweight unification fight in the coming months.

But with Lara now, according to Pelullo, looking for a unification fight with fellow titleholder Jarrett Hurd instead, Andrade, the undefeated southpaw, is now in need of an opponent for either June or July, Pelullo told RingTV.com on Thursday. Andrade’s name has also come up as a possible contestant in Richard Schaefer and Kalle Sauerland’s new single elimination tournament set to begin in September. But it’s all just speculation. Pelullo spoke from his hotel room in Manchester, England, where his boxer Petr Petrov is challenging lightweight titleholder Terry Flanagan on Saturday in a bout that will be live-streamed in the U.S. exclusively on Twitter.

“We were under the impression that we were going to get Lara after the fight,” Pelullo told RING, referencing Andrade’s win last month in Germany against Jack Culcay for a secondary belt. “Now Lara is back-pedaling and he doesn’t want the fight. So, we’re in a position now that we’re looking for a fight for Demetrius Andrade. And it’s not an easy task because he’s a dangerous guy.” He added of Lara, “I was told that Lara wanted to go in a direction of fighting Hurd for the unified title but in my opinion I think it’s an easier fight for Lara and that’s why he wants it.”

Pelullo said he’s been in contact with German promoter Wilfried Sauerland about possibly using Andrade in the tournament he’s staging with Schaefer. “He was talking about maybe there would be a 154-pound division in his tournament and he asked if we’d put Andrade in and I said of course we would,” Pelullo said. “If all the terms are right, we’ll do it.”



Pelullo said he’s also been approached by an entity overseas interested in staging a fight involving Andrade (24-0, 16 knockouts), though he declined to elaborate any further.  “We have to keep him busy and we have to keep him active,” said Pelullo, who plans to also reach out to HBO and Showtime in the coming weeks to try to map out Andrade’s future on the premium networks.

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