Berto-Collazo On Saturday

By William Mackay: In what could be a break out fight for World Boxing Council welterweight champion Andre Berto (23-0, 19 KOs), the 2004 Olympian for the Haiti team, is facing former WBA welterweight champion Luis Collazo (29-3, 14 KOs) this Saturday at the Beau Rivage Resort & Casino, in Biloxi, Mississippi. Having been matched pretty carefully up to this point in his career, Berto, 25, has a tough match-up in facing the 27-year-old Collazo.

In facing the veteran Collazo, Berto will have to not only handle an expert counter puncher but also a southpaw, something that Berto has rarely had to fight in his short five year pro career. Like in his other fights, Berto will have a power and speed advantage in this one, but it remains to be seen if those will be enough to overcome the experience advantage that Collazo has going for him.

Berto has looked good off and on in many of his bouts against his better competition, landing fast flurries but getting hit an awful lot in the process. He reminds one of featherweight Yuriorkis Gamboa, a fighter with a fast hand speed and a wide open style of fighting who from time to time gets knocked down.

So far, Berto has been lucky and has only had that happen once in his career in a fight with Cosme Rivera in 2007. But then again, Berto has faced much softer opposition than Gamboa has fought and has yet to face a truly stern test. Sadly, the number #1 WBC ranked welterweight challenger Collazo is Berto’s best opponent to date.

That’s rather unfortunate because after having fought 23 times in his career, you would have liked to have seen Berto in against a fighter slightly better than Collazo. But that may all change if Berto can beat him, because on the horizon or possible unification matches, if he wants them, against IBF welterweight champion Antonio Margarito or WBA champion Joshua Clottey.

There are also a number of talented up and coming welterweights waiting to get a chance at Berto’s title, fighters like Jesus Soto Karass, Luis Carlos Abregu and Carlos Baldomir. Berto may be talented enough to beat all of them but each one of them would seem to be a tough fight for him and he would likely have a tough time in winning them.

The key to victory this Saturday night is for Berto to try and work his combinations and try to keep the fight on the inside where he can take advantage of his speed and power advantage over Collazo. On the outside, Berto is much less skilled and can be beaten with jabs and movement.

This is probably what Collazo will be trying to do against him, because he doesn’t match up well with him at close quarters and would get quickly outgunned if he tries to battle Berto in that manner. Collazo has respectable power, so Berto can’t afford to take this win for granted. If Collazo can tire Berto out, you can bet he’ll try to land something big late in the fight and try to test Berto’s questionable chin.

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