Khan says Berto one possibility for December

By Boxing News - 07/27/2014 - Comments

berto111By Scott Gilfoid: Amir Khan (29-3, 19 KOs) says that former IBF/WBC welterweight champion Andre Berto (28-3, 22 KOs) is one of three possible names for him to fight next in December. He says that he trains alongside Berto in Oakland, California with trainer Virgil Hunter.

Khan isn’t all that keen at the thought of fighting Berto, because the two of them have become friends, but he’s willing to do it if he’s the guy selected by his management.

It’s unclear if his adviser Al Haymon or Golden Boy Promotions are the ones that are thinking of putting Berto in with Khan. In either case, it would be another safe pick for Khan given that Berto has lost 3 out of his last 4 fights, and is coming off of a 12th round knockout loss to high level journeyman Jesus Soto Karass from last year in July. Berto suffered a shoulder injury in that fight, and he’s been out of action ever since.

“For December we’re looking at a few names, the likes of [Devon] Alexander, [Robert] Guerrero,” Khan said to the Telegraph.co.uk. “Berto has been mentioned but we train together, so that would be quite hard. I like Berto, he’s a good friend of mine. But I’m one of those guys – I’ll never say ‘no’ to a fight. I’ll take whoever they decide to put me against.”

Well, if they put Khan in with Berto, it would be a sure sign that they still have some serious concerns about Khan’s chin and his ability to beat the top level opposition, because Berto is no longer a top tier contender after his three defeats in his last four fights.

I’m just wondering how Showtime would agree to televise a Khan-Berto fight. But of course, if Showtime is willing to televise the Danny Garcia vs. Rod Salka and Lamont Peterson vs. Edgar Santana fight card, then they’ll likely be tripping over themselves at the chance to televise Khan vs. Berto. The casual fans with little knowledge of the sport would likely be interested in seeing Khan fight Berto, not knowing where Berto is at this point in his career.

Guerrero or Alexander are obviously the better choices than Berto, but even those fights are nowhere near as good as Khan vs. WBA interim welterweight champion Keith Thurman or Khan vs. the winner of next months’ fight between IBF welterweight champion Shawn Porter and Kell Brook. Any one of those three fighters would be a far better opponent for Khan than Berto, Guerrero or Alexander.

Guerrero is kind of tainted due to how poor he looked in beating Yoshihiro Kamegai last June, and how dreadful he looked in his 12 round decision loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr last year in May. I guess that’s probably the entire reason why Guerrero is one of the three finalists for a Khan fight.

If he’d looked invincible, he’d probably not be included on the list. You did notice the names that aren’t on Khan’s three-fighter list – Thurman, Porter and Brook. Those would be tough fights for Khan because they have more power than Guerrero, and are fighting at a higher level than Berto.



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