Lately Demetrius “Boo Boo” Andrade has been taking numerous hits, but all of them have been outside the ring.

He is currently undefeated (17-0. 12 KOs) and ranked No. 4 by the IBF, No. 5 by the WBO, No. 10 by the WBC and No. 13 by the WBA. Yet boxing critics are wondering when the 2008 United States Olympian is going to start fighting top-ranked opponents.

It won't happen tonight at 8 p.m. when he faces Alexis “Hurricane” Hlores in a scheduled 10-round middleweight bout in the 11th annual Fight to Educate at the Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester.

This is the third straight year Andrade is featured in the main event at the Fight to Educate. In his last three fights including his last visit to the Queen City when he defeated Saul Duran, Andrade had fought in just six total rounds.

He polished off Duran in three rounds, Angel Hernandez in two and Rudy Cisneros in one, the last two fights taking place at the Mohegan Sun Arena earlier this year. None of those three fighters were ranked in the top 100.

Now along comes Hlores of Mt. Clemens, Mich. (16-4-2, 12 KOs), who is currently ranked 364th.

It should translate into another easy bout in the win column for Andrade, but more heat from his critics in the weeks ahead.

Yesterday at the official weigh-in at Boynton's Taproom in Manchester, Andrade answered his critics by saying its not his fault he's drawing weak opponents.

“I'm the one that's been calling out (Saul) Canelo (Alvarez) and (Julio Ceasar) Chavez (Jr.) and these guys don't want to take the fight,” said Andrade. “They don't want to take me on.”

Andrade, a 24-year-old native of Providence R.I., says it's a matter of time before the top-ranked fights come his way.

“All I can do is keep developing my career, keep winning and eventually the big fights will come,” said Andrade. “When? I don't know. Hopefully (within) a year. It takes time. There's a lot of politics in it. You have to go through it before anything can happen.”

Hlores recognizes he's a major underdog, but claims he's ready to give Andrade a tough battle. “It's an opportunity of a lifetime for me,” said Hlores. “I respect Andrade, but I hope he respects me too. I can take a good punch and I'm capable of ending a bout with one punch.”

Andrade said he's received treatment for a muscle problem around his knee, but declared himself ready to go tonight.

The other pro bout is a six-round middleweight tussle pitting Chris Gilbert (4-0) of Windsor, Vt., against Antonio Chaves Fernanzez (2-7-1). There are five amateur fights including Keenan Manzi of Keene against Rory Stapleton of Lancaster in a scheduled three-rounder.

James “Buster” Douglas, who recorded one of the biggest upsets in boxing history with a 10th round knockout of previously undefeated Mike Tyson in 1990, made an appearance at the weigh-in yesterday.

“My mom died two weeks before the fight and that was enough motivation for me to go out and beat Tyson,” said Douglas. “It was a chance of a lifetime, I seized the moment and I didn't have a chance to enjoy it because they wanted to take the title away from me. They said the referee gave a long count and it took four days to decide the title was mine. I'm over it now and no one will ever take that win and title away from me. It's in the record books.”

John “The Quietman” Ruiz, “Irish” Micky Ward and “Dangerous” Dana Rosenblatt will be among the boxing celebrities on hand tonight.

Tickets are still available at the arena ticket office throughout the day.

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John Habib may be reached at jhabib@unionleader.com.