Demetrius Andrade - "Just tell me I'm the greatest"

[PRIDE OF BOSTON]

OK, so who saw Demetrius Andrade continue his jaunt through the cab drivers of the jr. middleweight division?

Look, I'm all for developing a guy... Getting in there soft for his first 5-6 bouts but then you need to steadily up the competition each bout at a time.

He is one of the highest touted young prospects after lossing in the Olympics... Surely another victim of the Olympc scoring system. He is extremely athletic and has very fast reflexes. He's well schooled and sharp.

Why in his 10th pro bout is he fighting a 36 year old guy that's 8-8(2kos)?

I don't often agree with Teddy Atlas of late but his critisism is warranted.

Now to the most disturbing part of the night. -

Ahead on all score cards and in control of the bout late, Andrade, while in his corner and his father/trainer giving him advice says...

Andrade - "Just tell me I'm the greatest!... Tell me I'm the greatest..."

Father - "You want me to tell you you're the greatest? You're the greatest, baby..."

Really?

Andrade is from Rhode Island. That's where I'm from so I make it a point to watch all his fights. I've been following him since the Amateurs.

Thoughts?

Mine are that this kid needs to get down to business and start treating this like a serious business. He's in there beating up old, outgunned, and skill lacking waiters while all the while bloating his ego.

He needs to be being groomed for higher level guys not bloating his ego and not improving his skills beating up these guys.

[killersheep]

Yeah that was ridiculous. He needs to get in against some higher level competition that can take him into deeper waters. The writing is on the wall for him IMO, he's gonna step up and get stepped on, too much low level opposition makes for thin blood.

[PRIDE OF BOSTON]

Yeah that was ridiculous. He needs to get in against some higher level competition that can take him into deeper waters. The writing is on the wall for him IMO, he's gonna step up and get stepped on, too much low level opposition makes for thin blood.

I saw him like an Andre Ward type when I saw him early... But he's not. Not at all.

[Mar]

Andrade is a kid, saying stupid shit to his corner between rounds so what. I've heard stupider stuff from crappier fighters. Of course fighting on fnf with the very few fights he had he doesn't think he's the best anything. Way more attention needs to be paid to how these guys fight in the ring. Not what they say or do. Be too calm like dawson and people cry, be over the top people still cry. This is a kid fighting men give the dude a break. Hell there are those wanting him to skip is progression and fight wlad already. Things like what he said last fri shows he's right where he needs to be. There was a whole fight that happened that night too and people care about the 5 seconds he said something in his corner ??!! I'm not necessarily disgree'in with ya boston i just think with all the sunshine people are blowing up the kid's ass what do you expect. I give him a pass on all that stuff if he keeps looking decent, and he has.

[PRIDE OF BOSTON]

Andrade is a kid, saying stupid shit to his corner between rounds so what. I've heard stupider stuff from crappier fighters. Of course fighting on fnf with the very few fights he had he doesn't think he's the best anything. Way more attention needs to be paid to how these guys fight in the ring. Not what they say or do. Be too calm like dawson and people cry, be over the top people still cry. This is a kid fighting men give the dude a break. Hell there are those wanting him to skip is progression and fight wlad already. Things like what he said last fri shows he's right where he needs to be. There was a whole fight that happened that night too and people care about the 5 seconds he said something in his corner ??!!

Mar, you apparently read like half my post... Skip the progression and fight Wlad? Only paying attention to whats said and not how he fights? Did you read my post? He's 22, fought in the Olympics and has over 200 amatuer fights. If you think he's right where he should be 10 fights in fighting guys that baring his last fight virtually don't throw back(and sparingly in his last fight) then you're probably in the minority, cuz the kids not going to get better fighting moving punching bags. But we're all entitled to our oppinions.

[killersheep]

Andrade is a kid, saying stupid shit to his corner between rounds so what. I've heard stupider stuff from crappier fighters. Of course fighting on fnf with the very few fights he had he doesn't think he's the best anything. Way more attention needs to be paid to how these guys fight in the ring. Not what they say or do. Be too calm like dawson and people cry, be over the top people still cry. This is a kid fighting men give the dude a break. Hell there are those wanting him to skip is progression and fight wlad already. Things like what he said last fri shows he's right where he needs to be. There was a whole fight that happened that night too and people care about the 5 seconds he said something in his corner ??!! I'm not necessarily disgree'in with ya boston i just think with all the sunshine people are blowing up the kid's ass what do you expect. I give him a pass on all that stuff if he keeps looking decent, and he has.

Thing is he doesn't need to work on his physical tools at all, the skill is there, the speed is there, the power well it is what it is. It's the mental game he needs to work on, as Pride said there is really no benefit on bringing a guy up like Andrade slowly he needs some friction to get his head in the game and he needs to do it now while he's young so he doesn't get soft when he's stepping up to the top level.