Demetrius Andrade is chasing history and Canelo Alvarez.

Providence’s Andrade is officially moving up to super middleweight. He will challenge England’s Zach Parker for the WBO interim super middleweight title on May 21, with the winner earning a mandatory shot against undisputed champion Alvarez. Various locations across England are being considered for the scheduled 12-round affair.

Queensberry Promotions, Parker’s promoter, won the rights to the fight after submitting a winning bid of approximately $1.8 million during a purse bid hearing held last Friday at WBO headquarters in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The bid nicked the roughly $1.75 million offered from Matchroom Boxing, which signed Andrade in July 2018 and re-upped with the current WBO middleweight titleholder for four more fights in January 2020.

Both sides were allocated two days to come to an agreement, with Andrade (31-0, 19 KOs) pondering an opportunity to remain at 160 pounds, where he has reigned since October 2018. However, the former junior middleweight champion ultimately decided to pursue Parker, vying for an opportunity to land a fight that has eluded him for more than half a decade – a dream fight against Alvarez, The Ring’s pound-for-pound king, and boxing’s most lucrative star.

However, Alvarez’s next fight won’t be at super middleweight. The Mexican will move up to 175 pounds for the second time in his career to challenge unbeaten WBA titlist Dmitry Bivol (19-0, 11 KOs), which will take place May 7.

Andrade will receive 65 percent of the winning bid, which amounts to $1,192,132.50, while the remaining 35 percent ($641,917.50) will go to Parker (22-0, 16 KOs), who has long yearned for an opportunity to prove his skill to the world. Now he finally gets his chance, but against one of boxing’s most tricky and skillful technicians.

Should the 33-year-old southpaw win the fight, he must provide formal notice to the WBO within 10 days whether he will remain at super middleweight or move back down to 160, where he will have a mandatory assignment waiting for him. On February 22, the WBO ordered an interim middleweight title fight between Tijuana’s Jaime Munguia (39-0, 31 KOs) and Janibek Alimkhanuly (11-0, 7 KOs), who are the No. 1 and No. 2 ranked fighters, respectively, within the sanctioning body.

Andrade, The Ring’s No.3-ranked middleweight, would face the winner of this fight should he decide against a title run at 168. But given how long he has ardently sought a fight against Alvarez to the point of getting cussed out at his post-fight press conferences, it seems unlikely that Andrade would run away now.

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