By Dan Ambrose: While it still remains uncertain whether the fans will soon see a unification fight between Mexican star Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin, former welterweight champion Andre Berto (31-4, 24 KOs) is already saying he wants to fight the winner of the contest.
#3 WBC Berto is coming off a big career-saving 4th round knockout win over Victor Ortiz last April, and he’s in line for a world title shot against WBC welterweight champion Danny Garcia.
Canelo might be interested in fighting another welterweight like Berto, because he just finished hammering Amir Khan into the dust of the canvas on May 7 on HBO PPV. However, Golovkin isn’t someone that has taken a lot of interest in fighting welterweights, so Berto might be out of luck with him if he wants to fight him after he takes care of Canelo if the two of them should ever face each other in the ring.
Berto doesn’t think it was a bad move by Canelo to vacate his WBC middleweight title recently. Many boxing fans have skewered Canelo with him vacating the WBC strap. Berto sees it as a move done purely for business reasons by Canelo. Further, Berto thinks it’s too soon for Canelo and Golovkin to face each other. According to Berto, Canelo will make his money fighting other guys. It’s Golovkin who needs the fight with him rather than the other way around.
“It was a business move. He’s trying to make that money, and I don’t think it’s time for that GGG fight yet,” said Berto to TMZ.com about Canelo Alvarez vacating his WBC title rather than facing Golovkin. “I believe GGG needs him. He don’t need Golovkin. So he made a decision. Canelo is going to make money regardless whether it’s GGG or not,” said Berto.
Berto’s attitude about the Canelo-Golovkin fight isn’t exactly inspiring. It almost sounds like he condones Canelo ducking the Golovkin fight and that is too bad if that’s his thinking process. When fighters only look to get money and think about business rather than the sport, it drives the game to the ground. If this were the NFL and you had a powerhouse team that didn’t want to play against another great team in the Super Bowl because they might lose, it would look bad. If all they wanted to do were play against teams with 8-8 records from popular cities that always sold out their games, it would turn the NFL into a joke.
If Canelo wants to duck the fight against Golovkin because he might lose, then Golovkin should put him on permanent ignore and move on to the fighters that aren’t afraid to fight him. If it’s going to be a situation where Golovkin will need to agree to a catch-weight off 155, or wait until he’s older and beatable, then he should forget about Canelo. There are other fighters that are willing to fight him.
“I’d probably pick Triple G. I would definitely like to fight the winner. I fought at 160 in the amateurs, so that wouldn’t be too bad,” said Berto in giving his thoughts about who wins the Canelo-Golovkin fight.
Berto believes that Golovkin wins right now if they fight, but he might have something else to say if Golovkin is forced to wait three to five years before he can face Canelo. Golovkin is 34 now, and if he’s made to wait, he could lose his skills through age unless he’s one of those rare fighters that still is able to fight on a high level as they near their 40th birthday.
I don’t see Berto’s career going that much further. I think he loses to Danny Garcia if/when they fight each other, and that’s really Berto’s only chance of winning another world title. Berto would likely be in a world of hurt if he fought WBA champion Keith “One Time” Thurman or IBF champion Kell Brook. Berto’s win over Victor Ortiz was meaningless because Ortiz has been a nonfactor in the 147lb division since his loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2011.