By Chris Williams: Former IBF/WBC welterweight champion Andre Berto (30-3, 23 KOs) doesn’t see himself as another notch on Floyd Mayweather Jr’s belt in their just announced pay-per-view fight on Showtime on September 12th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Berto has rejuvenated with the help of his genius trainer Virgil Hunter, and he’s coming to beat Mayweather’s behind in front of the whole world when he gets himself in the ring. I don’t know if Berto can do that, but he’s going to try his best not to become victim number 49. That’s the number that Mayweather, with all his greatness, will be looking to achieve when he gets Berto inside the ring.
“I’m coming to kick Floyd’s ass on September 12,” said Berto. “Best believe that I plan to bring it to Floyd and I’m not concerned about what 48 other fighters have been unable to do. Somebody is getting knocked out and it won’t be me. You don’t want to miss this.”
For Berto not to become No. 49, he’s going to need to fight a lot better than he has in ages, because the Berto that we’ve seen in the last four years won’t be good enough to compete against Mayweather. Berto needs to take his game back in a time machine to maybe five years ago, and then he’ll need to make some major improvements under the hood of his game for him to be able to have a chance of beating Mayweather.
Mayweather isn’t going to be slacking off just because Berto hasn’t looked so good in long time. Mayweather will be giving it his best effort, and if Berto can’t handle it then he’s going to get clowned by Mayweather. If Berto’s trainer Virgil Hunter can’t light a fire under his backside to get him to raise his game a few notches on September 12th, then Hunter is going to need to think seriously about throwing in the towel to save Berto for another day.
There’s no sense in leaving Berto out there to soak up unnecessary punishment from the best fighter in boxing. When you have a fighter like Berto, who hasn’t looked good in five years, you don’t really know what you’re going to get from him. You can either get a revitalized Berto, or you can get an over-the-hill fighter who doesn’t belong in the same ring as Mayweather and needs to be saved from himself.
From reading some of the comments on boxing news 24, I’ve noticed that some fans aren’t too pleased with the Mayweather-Berto fight being on Showtime pay-per-view rather than on free TV like NBC, CBS or ESPN. But I think the Mayweather vs. Berto fight card is a good product and will give the fans their money’s worth. The main event between Mayweather and Berto promises to be a more exciting fight than the recent Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao fight last May. Berto isn’t someone who will come into the fight with a torn rotator cuff injury. If he’s hurt, he’ll do the right thing and postpone the fight.
Berto will also fight a lot harder than Pacquiao. You won’t see Berto just flat out give up in the first two rounds if he gets hit hard by some of Mayweather’s fast right hands while he’s attacking him. Berto will still keep attacking Mayweather no matter how many right hands he get hit with. Additionally, the Mayweather-Berto undercard is a lot better than the Mayweather-Pacquiao undercard. We’ve got two good fights in WBO super featherweight champion Roman Martinez vs. Orlando Salido and Badou Jack vs. George Groves.
There’s another fight that will be added to the card. I wouldn’t be surprised if Errol Spence is added to the card. There’s talk of Spence fighting on September 11th, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he were moved to the Mayweather card.
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