By Dan Ambrose: Andre Berto is pretty excited about him potentially getting a fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. for September 12th. Mayweather has been name dropping the 30-year-old Berto and Karim Mayfield’s names in interviews lately, and it seems like he’s sincere about wanting to fight one of them.
If Mayweather opts to face someone else instead, it’s going to be a huge disappointment for Berto and Mayfield. These haven’t ever been involved in a big money mega-fight before.
Berto is a former IBF/WBC welterweight title holder, but he didn’t make the big money that he could potentially get for a fight against Mayweather.
Mayweather has a lot of options for his next fight. He’s not limited to Berto and Mayfield. It would be surprising if Mayweather actually chooses one of these guys because he usually doesn’t name candidates for his next fight this far ahead. Ricky Hatton was an opponent that Mayweather mentioned early on that he wanted to fight, but for the most part he’s been secretive about the guys that he wants to fight.
“I’m trying to see what that ticket looking like. They keep talking about the fight; I’m trying to see what the damn lottery ticket looking like,” Berto said to Fighthype.com about a fight against Mayweather. If you get in there with me, you’re going to see what time it is. So if you ain’t trying to do it, stop saying my name and keep my name all out your mouth.”
You can’t blame Berto for being concerned that he’s just being teased by Mayweather about him as a possibility for his next fight. Mayweather is dangling the fight over the head of Berto by mentioning his name over and over again. It’s to the point where if Berto doesn’t get the fight he’s likely going to be letdown in a major way. A big payday fight against Mayweather would likely pocket Berto millions. It wouldn’t be quite as much money as a Mayweather vs. Amir Khan fight or Mayweather vs. Keith Thurman bout, but it would still be a big bankroll for Berto to get the payday.
With the way that Berto has been fighting since 2011, I think it’s doubtful that he’ll be getting too many more paydays. If he doesn’t get the Mayweather fight, he’ll have to take it easy in terms of opposition until he gets a title shot against WBA welterweight champion Keith Thurman. If Berto takes on anyone that is talented in the welterweight division, or even just marginally talented, Berto will likely lose.
Berto was losing to Josesito Lopez last March in their recent fight until hurting him in the 6th and scoring a stoppage. And Lopez isn’t one of the better welterweights. He’s not even ranked in the top 15. If you put Berto in with someone like Marcos Maidana, I suspect that Berto would get knocked out. Even Robert Guerrero would very likely do a number on Berto again if given the chance. Nothing has changed with Berto. He’s just beaten two vulnerable fighters in Lopez and Steve Upsher Chambers in his last two fights.
Comments are closed.