Andrade laughs off ‘Delusional’ claims and promises Keeler ‘beating of his life’

Demetruius Andrade promised to give Luke Keeler the ‘beating of his life’ after laughing of claims by the Ballyfermot man he was ‘delusional’.

In the build up to the American’s third middleweight title defence, challenger Keeler has questioned ‘Boo Boo’s’ self belief, suggesting he has no grounds for speaking so highly of himself.

Indeed, the 32-year-old went as far as to say the two weight world champion was delusional.

The champion confronted the Dubliner over the claims when the pair first meet in Miami today and speaking to the media after laughed them off.

“Delusional? That’s a good one!” said Andrade. “I’ll give Luke credit where it’s due, it’s hard to get people to get in there with me and it’s his first World title fight, so I am expecting him to bring his A-game,” he said.

Andrade has also been accused of overlooking his January 30 challenger and there have been questions with regard to whether he has been 100 percent professional in camp.

Those are claims he also refutes, albeit indirectly, stating he will bring his A game in Miami this Thursday to showcase his talents to a massive audience.

“I’m bringing mine too as I know what it’s like. I’ve been to the Olympics and to me there’s no bigger platform, but this is a massive stage and no other fighter or network has done this, I’m going to give him the beating of his life.

“I’ll never get too comfortable though and think ‘I’m better than you so I don’t have to train’ – every fight is a multi-million dollar fight because if I don’t perform and win, the opportunities go out the window. I don’t slack on one punch or one training session because of that,” he continued.

Bringing up Tom Doran and referencing some of the build up talk suggests Andrade has looked at Keeler’s record and read a lot of the pre fight interviews.

However, he claims he hasn’t nor does he need to study the Irish middleweight champions ring approach.

“I’ve never watched a lot of fighters, I just concentrate on me. It’s all about me and doing what I need to do to beat anyone that’s put in front of me, and that’s get in shape, stay fast, work on my range and timing.

“Whatever is being brought to me, through my work ethic and preparation I am able to weather any storm, adjust, land the shots I need to land and relax, because I’ve been doing this for a very long time and there’s nothing I haven’t seen style-wise.