Demetrius Andrade and Zach Parker are right back where they were earlier this year.

BoxingScene.com has confirmed that the WBO has called for a purse bid hearing to determine promotional rights for the previously approved Andrade-Parker interim super middleweight title fight. The session will take place September 20, coming nearly a month after the fight was re-ordered only for the two sides to not come to terms.

“Please be advised that on August 23, 2022, this Committee ordered the commencement of negotiations for

the subject matter bout. The parties were granted 10-days to reach an agreement, or purse bid proceedings

would be ordered per WBO Regulations of World Championship Contests,” Luis Batista-Salas, chairman of the WBO Championship Committee, noted to the respective teams for Andrade and Parker via letter, a copy of which was obtained by BoxingScene.com. “Having the time frame provided by this Committee elapsed without an agreement reached, we are hereby ordering Purse Bid proceedings per WBO Regulations of World Championship Contests.”

The minimum acceptable bid for the fight will be $300,000. It remains to be seen if the matchup generates similar interest to when the fight was up for bidding on February 24, when Queensberry Promotions—Parker’s promoter—bid $1,834,050 to secure the rights to the fight. Queensberry outmuscled longtime domestic promotional rival Matchroom Boxing, Andrade’s promoter at the time who posted a $1,750,000 offer to control the event.

The fight was due to take place May 21 in Parker’s hometown of Derby, England, only for Andrade (31-0, 19KOs) to suffer an injury which ultimately canceled the event. The Providence-bred southpaw was then instructed to revisit plans for a WBO middleweight title consolidation clash with interim titlist Janibek Alimkahanuly (12-0, 8KOs), a mandatory title defense for which he sought an exception to instead face Parker.

Andrade—who has since parted ways with Matchroom—was ordered to secure the fight with Alimkhanuly by November to avoid being stripped. When it was clear that a deal would not be reached, the WBO called for a purse bid hearing which was canceled upon Andrade relinquishing his WBO middleweight title to instead campaign at super middleweight.

Ed Farris, Andrade’s longtime manager, has taken the lead in talks for the interim title fight with Parker, negotiating directly with Queensberry rather than manager Neil Marsh. Rumors swirled of the fight possibly taking place November 5 in Nottingham, England, though that deal would have to come prior to Tuesday—or for Queensberry to once again win the promotional rights in order to stage such an event.

BoxingScene.com has learned that one factor forcing this fight to a purse bid was Andrade’s hesitation to travel to the UK, though not outright adverse to the idea of hitting the road for the fight. That matter could be resolved prior to the purse bid, or he can simply accept wherever the fight will take place once a promoter has secured fight rights.

The path to securing a fight with Parker (22-0, 16KOs) has been messy. Andrade and Matchroom initially floated the proposal to the WBO shortly after the sanctioning body ordered Andrade-Alimkhanuly last November 30. The sanctioning was willing to consider the interim super middleweight title fight since its full title claimant, undisputed WBA/WBC/IBF/WBO champ Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez (57-2-2, 39KOs) was exploring fights outside the weight for his yet-to-be-announced next fight.

Too much time had elapsed, prompting the WBO to call for a purse bid hearing to determine promotional rights for the ordered middleweight title fight. The session was delayed several times, often enough for Andrade-Parker to be put back into play. The concessions made by Andrade were enough to convince the WBO to bless the interim super middleweight title fight, along with ordering a similar fight at middleweight.

Parker has held the number-one spot in the WBO super middleweight rankings since 2020, but named mandatory only after Alvarez committed to a fight with Callum Smith for the WBA “Super” and vacant WBC title. Alvarez was permitted to jump the line as a WBO Super champion, despite Parker having previously won a sanctioned title eliminator in a March 2020 11th round knockout of Rohan Murdock.

Parker has since won three fights, including a fourth-round stoppage of Marcus Morrison last November 6 in Birmingham, England. The win came less than two weeks prior to Andrade’s fifth and most recent WBO middleweight title defense, a second-round knockout of Ireland’s Jason Quigley last November 19 in Manchester, New Hampshire. The 27-year-old Brit will now have a regional advantage for the biggest fight of his career to date, thanks to his promoter stepping up when it mattered the most.

Andrade made six successful defenses of the WBO middleweight title which he claimed in an October 2018 vacant title fight win over Walter Kautondokwa.

The run followed two separate junior middleweight title reigns, both beginning with wins in vacant title fights. The 2008 U.S. Olympian and former two-division titlist has yet to face and beat a former or current titleholder through 14 years in the pros.

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox