WBO middleweight world champion Demetrius Andrade is one of the best boxers to come out of USA Boxing in the past 20 years, and that being said, you might not find a boxer who has been slandered by the press and promoters more than Andrade. This Saturday, Andrade makes homecoming to the town that raised him, Providence, Rhode Island, as he fights for the first time as a professional there taking on top-ten middleweight Maciej Sulecki at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center, which will be broadcast on the DAZN, sports streaming app.

Sulecki is a very solid opponent, but some have frowned on the homecoming bout as Andrade is viewed as one of the “CAPITAL G” Guys of middleweight along with Gennady Golovkin and Canelo Alvarez. Yet, Andrade gets to do something he hasn’t done much of until signing with Matchroom Boxing and DAZN, and that he is staying active as well as fight on major cards close to home.

That being said, the average fan views his past three opponents of Walter Kautondokwa, a last-minute replace for Billy Joe Saunders, who failed a drug test, in a bout that Andrade won the vacant WBO middleweight world title in, Artur Akavov and now Maciej Sulecki. All good fighters and with Sulecki, a top-ten fighter, but none of which have a large following in the U.S. or merit excitement since Andrade is a special talent that is viewed as far greater than them.

Up until signing with Eddie Hearn, Andrade’s career was looking to be one of the biggest what-if’s of boxing, in which everything that could go wrong happened in his career with the media and promoters blaming him at all times discounting his boxing ability and high-level of boxing intelligence.

The sad thing is, not always, but sometimes it is with good reason.

After being a 2008 U.S. Olympian, Andrade went on a run with Star Boxing competing on nearly ever ESPN2 Friday Nights event, ever. This was Andrade’s career from 2008-2013.

Andrade then looked to make the move to HBO fighting Vanes Martirosyan and Brian Rose, but then went silent on their airwaves.

Outside of boxing confusion, contracts no one knows what was real and what wasn’t, along with inactivity, Andrade’s career was plagued with inactivity as he bounced between Showtime and HBO, never finding a place on either network.

Matchroom USA and DAZN have found a niche in boxing picking up under distributed fighters and showcasing them. Andrade seems like coup de grace of that demographic as he has the talent of a top pound-for-pound fighter, but has been seen about as much as a super flyweight.

That being said, they didn’t sign Andrade in terms of charity. Andrade is one of the three best middleweights and eventually they’d like to put him in with Canelo Alvarez or Gennady Golovkin, and/or both.

This Saturday’s bout for Demetrius Andrade is a chance for him to make a statement, stand-out and force the fans and media express interest and see him against the top two guys in the division while doing it at home.