 Andrade Gears Up for the World Championships, then Beijing
By Stephen Tobey (Sept 25, 2007)
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Since mid-summer, Demetrius Andrade has not had much downtime.
He’s gone from one major amateur boxing competition to the next to the next. There’s been little time to dwell on his narrow loss in the gold medal bout of the Pan American Games and little time to savor his victory at the U.S. Boxing Trials.
“I haven’t really been home,” said Andrade, a 19-year-old southpaw from Providence, R.I. who is a two-time national champion and USA Boxing’s top-ranked welterweight. “It’s something I have to do if I want to get the [Olympic] gold medal.”
Andrade is currently at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., where he is preparing for the AIBA Men’s World Championships, which take place Oct. 23 through Nov. 3 at the University of Illinois-Chicago. If Andrade can place in the top-eight at the world championships or place in two other international tournaments, he will assure himself a spot in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China.
“I’m going there to win,” Andrade said.
He’ll also have an opportunity to avenge his 7-6 loss to Brazil’s Pedro Lima in the gold medal bout of the Pan Am Games, a bout that he feels he should have won.
“I was blowing everyone out in the tournament,” Andrade said. “It was in [Lima’s] hometown and he was the only guy from Brazil left. I won the first two rounds. After the third, it was close. Then in the fourth, the referee yelled ‘break’ and he kept punching. I’ll see him again at the world championships.”
Andrade started boxing when he was six, when his father, Paul, first brought him to the gym.
“I started in karate, but I was too aggressive for it,” he said. “I played football in Pop Warner. I was a running back. Before I got to high school, I had to make a choice. I chose boxing.”
Since the beginning, Andrade has been training with his father and David Keefe.
“My dad is a good trainer,” Andrade said. “There is no difference between the way he is as a father and the way he is as a trainer. David is a terrific trainer and a great guy. He’s very understanding. He boxed and was trained by my father before he became a trainer.”
If, as expected, Andrade qualifies for the Olympics, he will be the second Providence boxer in as many Olympiads to represent the USA at the Games. Super heavyweight Jason Estrada was on the 2004 Olympic team.
Estrada is currently fighting in the professional ranks. Matt Godfrey, who narrowly missed a spot on the 2004 team, is another Providence resident who has experienced success in the ring in recent years and is now a top-10 professional cruiserweight. Peter Manfredo, Jr. of nearby Pawtucket, R.I. has challenged for the world super middleweight title.
“Kids [in Providence] are getting into the sport,” said Andrade. “We all have good training, whether it’s with Peter Manfredo [Sr.] or at my gym, 401 Boxing.”
When he was growing up, Andrade admired Roy Jones, Jr. and looked at Godfrey, Estrada and Manfredo as peers rather than idols.
“We all grew up together,” he said. “We all did the same things. I sparred with Peter, Jr. when I was younger, but we were just fooling around.”
After the Olympics, Andrade will follow his peers into the professional ranks. For now, he’s in Colorado Springs, training with his Team USA teammates, with days full of plyometrics, sparring, gym work, and instruction in nutrition and how to deal with the media. His first objective is winning the world championships, then taking home the gold from Beijing.
“It’s just the Olympics, that’s all I’m worrying about,” he said. “As long as I’ve known what the Gold medal was, I’ve wanted it.”
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