This story’s been way under-covered in the local media: 20 year-old Providence boxer Demetrius ‘Boo Boo’ Andrade looks set to tear it up in Beijing this summer.
At the Olympic trials a month later, Andrade left nothing to chance, knocking out his first two opponents, then outpointing Keith Thurman by a 48-26 aggregate in their two bouts. That earned him a spot on the team, but Andrade still had to qualify in the weight class at last October’s world championships in Chicago.
“I thought, I just beat everybody,” Andrade says. “Now, I’ve got to beat the people from overseas. How is that going to work out?” All Andrade had to do was reach the quarterfinals to get to Beijing, but he tore up the field, winning by counts like 19-3, 26-6, and 30-9, despite fighting with impacted wisdom teeth.
His final against Thailand’s Non Boonjumnong is a YouTube masterpiece, a flurry of Boo Boo blows that came so quickly the scoreboard barely could keep pace. Andrade, who stunned his man for an early 8-count, was up, 10-1, after one round and won on a stoppage just before the end of the second.
Here’s that video:
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdxePkaT-4E]