By Dave Lahr: WBC welterweight champion Andre Berto (23-0, 19 KOs) may not know it or not but he has a real test in front of him Saturday with challenger Luis Collazo (29-3, 14 KOs). This is an opponent that speed alone won’t be the answer for, so hopefully Berto has some other tools to fall back on in case Collazo starts giving him problems. Berto’s experience up until now has been nothing short of pitiful for a champion, having had hardly any notable fighters that he’s had to prove himself against.
For that, he’s been incredibly lucky because if there are a lot of quality fighters out there, yet somehow Berto has been able to move through the division without meeting up with one of them. Collazo probably isn’t on the level of the better fighters in the division like Antonio Margarito, Paul Williams, Miguel Cotto, Joshua Clottey and Carlos Quintana, but he’s close enough to potentially give Berto a lot of problems.
What might make him even a tougher opponent is his boxing and counter punching skills, which are some of the best in the division. He previously held the WBA welterweight title from 2005 to 2006 but lost it in a controversial 12-round decision to Ricky Hatton.
Having seen the fight myself, I thought Collazo had easily done more than enough to win the fight. He had Hatton hurt in the 12th round. Unfortunately, he didn’t go after Hatton after hurting him and let the opportunity slip away. His speed and elusiveness might be a problem for Berto, whom has faced mostly fighters that were there for him to hit.
Steve Forbes was the only exception, but in his case, he didn’t have the size to compete with Berto for long in the fight. Collazo does. If Berto is looking forward to a slugfest, he might be disappointed because Collazo isn’t that type of fighter. He’s the opposite, in fact.
Collazo prefers to move, jab and look for spots to land his sneaky left hand. His power is much better than he gets credit for. His speed is what makes him so dangerous, because much of the time when he lands, his opponents are ready for it and are often surprised.
This was the case with Hatton, who liked like a deer caught in the head lights when Collazo suddenly pounced on him in the 12th, nailing him with a big left hand and stunning him. Berto will need to be keeping his hands up all the fight with Collazo, because he’s going to make Berto pay for any mistakes that he might make in this fight. In the past, Berto’s defense has been inconsistent.
I’m not sure if that’s a flaw on his part or more of a product of him trying to look good in quickly taking out his opponents. He certainly has tried hard to impress with his slugging ability, and he’s done a good job of picking up a lot of fans with his exciting style of fighting.
However, with a fighter as good as Collazo, Berto is going to have to stay alert at all times for incoming fire because Collazo has both the speed and the power to cause Berto a lot of problems if he can get his shots through Andre’s guard often enough.
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