Andrade Returns With First-Round Stoppage

Former two-division world champion Demetrius Andrade made a statement in his return to the ring on Friday night, crushing Douglas Ataide in the very first round.

Midway through the opening round, Andrade stunned Ataide with a clean left hand before dropping him hard with a follow-up right. Referee Ricky Gonzalez reached the count of ten at 2:09 of round one, awarding Andrade a dominant knockout victory. It was the perfect response after Andrade had taken time off to focus on himself.

“I took time off because of my family matters. My little brother got shot, got paralyzed. My mom, rest her soul. I took time to deal with my family stuff. After maybe like a year or so, I was eager to get back in the ring, but every time I reached out to the promoters to get something going, they would just be like, ‘Wait for the opportunity. Wait for the opportunity.’ I’m like, ‘What do you mean? Let’s create the opportunity. Let’s get things going. What are you waiting for? We need to make the opportunity ourselves,” Andrade