Demetrius Andrade had such an easy time in the first defence of his WBO middleweight title that his opponent might have done his best fighting while shoving away the referee who had finally put a stop to it.
Andrade sounds ready for something tougher.
He remained unbeaten Friday night, stopping Russia's Artur Akavov in the 12th round, and afterward said he would 'destroy' former champion Gennady Golovkin.
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Demetrius Andrade successfully defended his WBO middleweight belt against Artur Akavov
Akavov was furious when referee Arthur Mercante stopped the fight in the 12th round
'I mean, all I can do is just keep destroying the top 15,' Andrade said. 'After I keep destroying the top 15, they have nobody else but to say but Triple G, Canelo, Danny Jacobs and all those great guys up there. That's all we're looking to do, make great fights, baby.'
Andrade (27-0, 17 KOs) seemed on his way to winning a lopsided decision before referee Arthur Mercante called a sudden and surprising end to the fight with 24 seconds left when Andrade landed a punch that knocked Akavov backward a bit.
The angry Akavov shoved Mercante away a couple of times, but that was about the best contact he made in the fight.
Otherwise, nearly everything of note was landed by the champion from Providence, Rhode Island, in the first defence of the title he won in October.
Andrade owns the lone major middleweight belt that won't be on the line when Canelo Alvarez faces Jacobs on May 4 in a unification bout that was announced Thursday, and will hope for bigger fights in the future than the mismatch at the Theater in Madison Square Garden.
Andrade (27-0, 17 KOs) seemed on his way to winning a lopsided decision before the stoppage
The WBO titlist landed a good flurry of shots along the ropes late in the fourth round
'We're looking to get in there with the best,' Andrade said. 'Akavov, he moved, he was trying to do what he did, he used the ring really well. I wasn't going to try to like, force anything. The jab was working beautiful all night. And at the end of the day, you put Triple G in front of me, I'm going to destroy him.'
Akavov (16-3) fell short in his second title shot, having lost to Billy Joe Saunders in 2016.
Andrade was supposed to face Saunders in October, but Saunders was stripped of his belt for testing
