Jeff Mayweather: If anybody else was fighting Andre Berto, fans wouldn’t have a problem with it

By Boxing News - 08/12/2015 - Comments

Floyd Mayweather and Andre BertoBy Chris Williams: Jeff Mayweather believes that the only reason why Floyd Mayweather Jr. (48-0, 26 KOs) is catching flak about fighting former two time world champion Andre Berto (30-3, 23 KOs) is because it’s superstar Mayweather and he’s held to a higher standard than the other fighters were.

Jeff sees Berto as a good fighter because he’s well-known to the casual boxing fans, he’s always involved in exciting fights, and he’s got good skills and power. Jeff doesn’t see Berto as any kind of pushover by any stretch of the imagination.

But at the same time, Jeff feels that whatever Berto brings to the table on September 12th, Mayweather is going to be able to adapt to keep him from taking advantage of the situation.

“Andre Berto is a former two-time world champion, just like all of the other guys, and if anybody else was fighting him, they wouldn’t have a problem with it. But now, because it’s Floyd, it’s a huge problem,” Jeff Mayweather said via Fighthype.com.

It’s definitely true about Mayweather being held to a higher standard by boxing fans than other fighters. If Amir Khan or Keith Thurman were to fight Berto, fans wouldn’t make a big deal about it because Berto is the interim WBA welterweight champion, and those guys would be doing the right thing by fighting the highest ranked contender the World Boxing Association has ranked. They would probably be commended by facing Berto. But since Mayweather is such a talented fighter, he takes nothing but heat for taking on the WBA’s No.1 guy.

Mayweather has spoiled the boxing fans by beating guys like Manny Pacquiao, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, Miguel Cotto, Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero, Ricky Hatton, Juan Manuel Marquez and Marcos Maidana. After beating those guys, when you throw in a name like Berto, the fans go crazy because they expect Mayweather to fight the ones that they want him to like Keith Thurman, Khan, Shawn Porter, Adrien Broner, Tim Bradley or Kell Brook. The thing of it is those guys haven’t beaten anyone to become a big name or to earn a fight against Mayweather.

“I think that Berto is going to come to fight. He has an opportunity of a lifetime,” Jeff Mayweather said. “But at the end of the day, Floyd is Floyd and with that being said, whatever Berto brings, Floyd is going to counter it. It don’t have to be Berto. It could have been anybody else that Floyd would have fought. And that’s the thing, why people are making such a big deal. Floyd is going to be Floyd. At 147, they could forget that.”

Jeff is right. It could be anyone and it would have been the same thing. If it had been Khan or Thurman, Mayweather would make his adjustments to make them all look really bad. The outcome would be the same. Mayweather would wind up clowning Thurman or Khan in the same way he’ll be clowning Berto on September 12th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Thurman and Khan only have themselves to blame for not getting the fight against Mayweather. Khan talked too much trash and did himself a disservice by not shutting up when he needed to. Evidently, Khan hit Mayweather’s last nerve and this is why he’s not getting the fight with him. With Thurman, he was offered by Mayweather a key to the magic door to a fight against him when Mayweather asked him to fight Errol Spence. When Thurman refused, he shut the door to a Mayweather fight in his own face. That door is now permanently shut given that Mayweather will be retiring after the Berto fight.



Comments are closed.