By Eric Thomas: According to Ledger.com, undefeated WBC welterweight #1 challenger Andre Berto (21-0, 18 KOs) will be fighting Miguel Angel Rodriguez for the WBC welterweight title on June 21st at the FedEx Forum, in Memphis, Tennessee. The bout will be for champion Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s WBC title, which he’s failed to defend since defeating Ricky Hatton by a 10th round TKO in December 2007. Apparently, due to Mayweather failing to defend his WBC title within the time limits set forth by the WBC, his title will be vacated, allowing Berto, the number one challenger in the division, to take on Rodriguez, ranked number two in the WBC.

Berto, 24, a representative for Haiti at the 2004 Olympics, has mostly looked good while building up an impressive unbeaten streak with a high percentage of knockouts on his record. Up until his fight with journeyman Cosme Rivera in July 2007, Berto had looked close to invincible, knocking out almost all of his opponents and badly outclassing those that he couldn’t knockout. However, Rivera changed all that by dropping Berto in the 6th round of their bout with a right hand, and then battering him around the ring for the remainder of the round, including some of the 7th round.

Berto would continue to struggle somewhat in his fight with David Estrada in September 2007, taking a lot of punishment from him before ultimately stopping him in the 11th round. Though he eventually got the TKO win, it showed that Berto had to work harder for the win than what was expected of him.

Many people have hyped him tremendously, perhaps a little too much for his own good, because he seems very beatable despite his tremendous speed and excellent power. Few boxing experts put him in the same class as other top welterweights in the division, such as Antonio Margarito, Floyd Mayweather, Miguel Cotto, Paul Williams, and Shane Mosley, to name just a few. It’s unclear whether Berto, somewhat short for the division, will ever develop into a better fighter or not over time.

Berto’s chin appears to be a major liability, which may turn out to be a problem for him when he finally has to take on better fighters than what’s been served up to him thus far. He’s been shielded from having to take on the best in the division up to this point, and it will be interesting to see what happens when he finally goes get in the ring with a good fighter.

It’s unclear why Rodriguez, 29, is ranked so highly in the WBC, or for that matter why he’d been fighting for the title, in that he’s fought only one top fighter in his career, Carlos Baldomir, who beat him by a 12-round unanimous decision in May 2005. Since that time, Rodriguez has fought exclusively low level opponents rather than attempt his fate against more top tier fighters. Considering his lack of competition in his career, as well as noting how he was beaten previously in the only attempt at fighting a quality opponent, it wouldn’t be hard to speculate that he’ll likely be way in over his head against Berto on June 21st.

Of course, Rodriguez has a chance if he can touch Berto’s fragile chin enough, and perhaps get lucky and drop him once or twice, maybe even knocking him out. Berto, though tough and powerful, has shown to have a weak chin and has been hurt in a couple of his bouts against the mostly mediocre opposition that he’s faced. Judging from Rodriguez’s record, it would seem to indicate that he has some power. But, then again, considering that he has faced such poor opposition, it’s likely that Rodriguez’s record is badly inflated, and not a good indication of how powerful he is.