By Eric Thomas: World Boxing Council welterweight champion Andre Berto (24-0, 19 KOs) overcame being stunned in the 1st round by his number #1 challenger Luis Collazo (29-4, 14 KOs) to come back to win a close – and controversial – 12-round unanimous decision on Saturday night at the Beau Rivage Resort & Casino, in Biloxi, Mississippi. The final judges’ scores were 116-111, 114-113 and 114-113.
I personally had Berto winning handily by four rounds and saw no controversy in the ending aside from the two judges that scored it closely for Berto. Collazo landed a good left hand in the 1st round that knocked Berto into the ropes and caused him to hold on for a short period after the shot. However, Berto rallied well, taking charge of the 2nd half of the 1st round.
Both fighters were cut in the fight, with Berto being cut over his right eyebrow due to a clash of heads and Collazo suffering a cut over his left eyelid. Collazo did well up until the 5th round, at which point Berto seemed to take charge of the fight for the second half.
Though Collazo would have his moments, coming back to win rounds nine and ten, it wasn’t enough as he tired out in the last two rounds allowing Berto to win the 11th and 12th with his power shots.
“We had a terrific fight to open up 2009,” Berto said afterwards. “I know I had to win the last round. My corner was telling me. I had to dig down and go out and get it. He [Collazo] caught me with some good, clean shots. He’s a sharp southpaw. I’d love to get him in a rematch.”
Berto ended up getting the victory but it was a little harder than it should have been, mostly because he made the mistake of fighting Collazo’s fight by fighting him on the inside. At close range, Berto’s speed was much less a factor and he quickly proved to be a poor inside fighter as Collazo hit him often with fast, shoeshine punches to the midsection. However, after nine rounds of fighting the wrong fight, Berto finally seemed to get it together in the 11th, staying on the outside and using his speed and power to dominate the 11th and 12th rounds.
Berto, 25, a former 2004 Olympian for the Haiti amateur team, came out looking to land big shots in the 1st. However, he should have been more wary of the southpaw Collazo’s punching power because Andre walked into a straight left hand early in the round, sending him stumbling backwards to the ropes where he bounced off. Berto would then clinch for the next few moments, trying to keep Collazo from attacking him. Berto finally recovered well enough to take the attack against Collazo and spent the last minute hitting him with power shots.
In the 2nd round, Berto landed some big power shots and catching Collazo quite frequently as he would come forward. Collazo tried to take the fight to Berto, but didn’t have the power to do much damage in the round. Collazo did well in the 1st minute of the round but was overtaken in the remainder as Berto began tagging him with huge shots.
In the 3rd round, Collazo got on the inside and stayed there, hitting Berto with short, fast punches and proving to be a much better inside fighter than Berto. With little room to wind up on his shots, Berto was unable to get any leverage to land with his normal power. This effectively left Berto a handicapped fighter, leaving him vulnerable to Collazo’s quicker shots.
In the 4th round, Berto was penalized one point for excessive holding of Collazo. Berto had previously been warned by the referee for holding but he continued to do so periodically.
Berto responded well in the 5th, staying on the outside and hitting Collazo with big right hands and left hooks to the head. Berto, however, was cut above the right eyebrow after a clash of heads. The cut wasn’t really that bad.
The 6th round was close, as Berto started out well with power shots in the opening minute of the round. Collazo came on in the last two minutes, getting near Berto and hitting him with short punches, landing flurries to the midsection. The punches weren’t thrown very hard but they had the effect of scoring points with the judges and shutting Berto down temporarily.
In the 7th and 8th round, Berto outworked Collazo, hitting him a lot with power shots. Collazo looked tired and was throwing mainly arm punches. Collazo began leaning forward with both arms down in front of him, trying to dare Berto to hit him so that he could counter him with a punch. However, even when Berto did, Collazo was too tired to respond with any return fire.
In the 9th and 10th rounds, Collazo worked his way on the inside and spent the better part of both rounds, nailing Berto with short punches to the midsection and head. Berto seemed unable to extricate himself from this inside fighting war and took a lot of punishment in both eyes and puffing up his left eye. Collazo threw an incredible 112 punches in the 10th round alone, mostly the short punches to the body, thrown with little power.
Collazo looked like a spent fighter in the 11th and 12th, unable to throw with any kind of power and seeing his work rate drop off significantly. With the fight on the line, Berto courageously fought hard, landing big power shots with both hands and beating Collazo both on the outside and the inside.
At the end of the day, it was far from an impressive victory for Berto. He got the win but he showed himself to be vulnerable to Collazo’s high work rate and had to struggle through extended stretches of the fight. If you were on the fence as to whether you liked Berto or not, it wasn’t the kind of fight that would win many fans for Andre.
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