Berto: I believe I’ll be Mayweather’s toughest fight

By Boxing News - 09/04/2015 - Comments

Image: Berto: I believe I’ll be Mayweather’s toughest fightBy Allan Fox: After struggling through his last six fights with a 3-3 record, Andre Berto (30-3, 23 KOs) believes he’s poised to give Floyd Mayweather Jr. (48-0, 26 KOs) the toughest fight of his 19-year-old pro career in their clash next week on September 12th on Showtime pay-per-view.

Berto, 31, thinks his hand speed, punching power and athleticism will be a minefield of problems for the 38-year-old Mayweather, and he believes he’s come out of this fight with a win and both of Mayweather’s two titles that he’ll have on the line for this fight.

If Berto beats Mayweather, it’ll be like him winning the lottery because a rematch would likely be in store for Berto, and with a rematch, you can bet he’d get a bigger purse split than in the first fight. A win over Mayweather would also likely mean some endorsements for Berto, because it would be such a huge win for him.

“I believe I’ll be his toughest fight, my speed, and power,” Berto said via thaboxingvoice.com. “A guy like Floyd feasts on a guy that moves straight up and down. I have the athletic ability. Fight night is going to be great, just do me and I can get the job done.”

Berto does have the hand speed and punching power to trouble Mayweather in this fight. There’s no doubt that Berto can hurt Mayweather if he can put hands on him, and drag him into a war the way that Marcos Maidana was able to drag Mayweather into a brawl in their first fight. Berto may even be able to turn the fight into a war even if Mayweather is unwilling.

Berto has fast feet, and is good at cutting off the ring on his opponent. Judging by some of the things Mayweather has been saying about him wanting to make this fight an exciting one for the boxing fans, I don’t think Berto will need to try too hard to turn the fight into a war.

It looks like Mayweather wants to make it a war himself, because with the fight being perceived as a mismatch, the only way Mayweather can take the heat off of him is by making it as exciting as possible. The only way to do that is to brawl with Berto for as long as the fight lasts.

Unlike fighters like Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero and Jesus Soto Karass, Mayweather isn’t accustomed to slugging it out with his opponents. We saw him do this in his fights against Jose Luis Castillo, Maidana and Miguel Cotto, and those were all very tough fights for Mayweather with him taking a lot of punishment and winning in close fights.

I’m not saying necessarily that Berto will have as much luck as Maidana, Castillo and Cotto did against Mayweather, but I believe he could in theory make it very difficult for him.

“They can think I’m undeserving all they want, but I’m stepping in there on the 12th,” Berto said. “The thing with these critics is that you’re only as good as your last performance. And I was good enough two or three years. Victor Ortiz was good enough when he beat me. Robert Guerrero was good enough when he beat me.”



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