Brandon Adams looking to leverage OTX tournament win

Brandon “The Cannon” Adams believes he’ll be ready to rise to the occasion once again when he takes on Andreas Katzourakis on Friday at the Corey Studios in Atlanta on DAZN and YouTube. The 10-round junior middleweight matchup is the final fight of Overtime Boxing’s OTX junior middleweight tournament.

Adams, 26-3 (16 KOs), reached the final by defeating Francisco Daniel Veron on August 30 via unanimous decision. On the same night, Katzourakis, 14-0 (10 KOs), advanced with a split decision win against Robert Terry.

Adams is heading into his third fight of 2024 after a layoff of more than three years following an eighth-round technical knockout win against well-regarded Serhii Bohachuk in 2021. Adams is still the only fighter to crack Bohachuk’s steady chin; even the fearsome Vergil Ortiz Jnr couldn’t join that exclusive club in his narrow win over Bohachuk earlier in 2024. But Adams wasn’t able to leverage the career-best win due to a dispute with Banner Promotions.

“This tournament has allowed me to prove that I’m still among the best despite the setbacks and layoffs,” Adams told BoxingScene. “Katzourakis is a bit of a bully. He wants to come forward and brawl. That’s his style. Whatever he thinks he’s good at, I feel that I’m superior. If he wants to box, I got him there. If he wants to fight on the inside, I got him there. I have everything I need to get past this fight and future fights.

“There were no opportunities for me to fight after I beat Bohachuk. My promotion wasn’t bringing me anything back. They weren’t able to capitalize on me winning the fight. I pushed and nudged. I won for nothing. … That wasn’t in my power. I’ve performed every time things have been in my power in the ring. This will be no different come Friday. I’m better than I ever was. I’m more experienced and skilled. I’ve learned a lot more, and I want to take advantage of it.” 

Adams, a professional boxer of 13 years, has also competed at middleweight throughout the years, highlighted by a title challenge against then-champion Jermall Charlo in 2019, which he lost by unanimous decision.

He also beat Shane Mosley Jnr in 2018, a victory that has aged well with the second-generation star’s recent resurgence.

At 35, the Los Angeles native Adams is open to the right fights at 160lbs but wants to first accomplish everything possible at 154, one of boxing’s deepest divisions. 

“Hopefully they line me up with the big-name fighters,” said Adams. “I just want the opportunity to fight those guys.”

Manouk Akopyan is a sports journalist, writer and broadcast reporter whose work has appeared on ESPN, Fox Sports, USA Today, The Guardian, Newsweek, Men’s Health, NFL.com, Los Angeles Times, Philadelphia Inquirer, Ring Magazine and more. He has been writing for BoxingScene since 2018. Manouk is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and the MMA Journalists Association. He can be reached on X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube, through email at manouk[dot]akopyan[at]gmail.com or via www.ManoukAkopyan.com.