Middleweight world titleholder Demetrius Andrade will defend his title against Luke Keeler on Jan. 30 (DAZN) in the main event of a world title tripleheader Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn announced Thursday.
The card, which also will include a much-discussed showdown between junior lightweight world titlist Tevin Farmer and Joseph Diaz Jr. and unified junior featherweight world titlist Daniel Roman taking on dangerous mandatory challenger Murodjon Akhmadaliev, will take place in Miami as one of the events being planned around the Super Bowl, which will take place there on Feb. 2. The fights will take place at Meridian at Island Gardens, a roughly 3,000-seat venue erected temporarily to host various events during Super Bowl week.
Andrade, who was a junior middleweight world titlist before vacating his title to move up in weight, will be making his third middleweight defense. He is coming off a shutout decision of contender Maciej Sulecki on June 29, Andrade’s first professional fight in his hometown of Providence, Rhode Island.
Andrade (28-0, 17 KOs), a 31-year-old southpaw, is hoping a good performance against Keeler will lead to a fight with one of the better-known names in the division.
Keeler (17-2-1, 5 KOs), 32, of Ireland, is 7-0-1 in his past eight fights since 2016 and coming off his most notable victory, a 10-round decision against Luis Arias, whom he dropped twice, in August in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Arias’ only previous loss had come by decision to Daniel Jacobs in November 2017.