berto3457 By Jim Dower: In a move that doesn’t surprise me in the least, WBC welterweight champion Andre Berto (24-0, 19 KOs), arguably the weakest of the welterweight champions, will defend his title against light welterweight Juan Urango (21-1, 16 KOs) in a 12-round bout on May 30th at the Seminole Hard Rock hotel, in Hollywood, Florida. Urango, 28, in his biggest fight of his career was defeated by Ricky Hatton in a 12-round lopsided decision in January 2007.

After a few feeling out rounds in which Hatton was hit by some big shots from Urango, Hatton made some quick adjustments and spent the remaining 10 rounds picking the over-muscled Columbian apart with shot, precise power punches.

Urango looked way over his head in that fight and ended up losing badly to Hatton. Urango would rebound from that defeat, beating a couple of journeyman and then defeating Carlos Wilfredo Vilches by a 4th round KO in the IBF light welterweight title eliminator in April 2008.

Then, recently in January 2009, Urango defeated a timid Herman Ngoudjo by a one-sided 12-round unanimous decision to win the vacant IBF light welterweight title.

For his part, Berto, 25, is making his 3rd defense of his WBC title. Berto defeated Steve Forbes in his first defense of his WBC belt, beating him by a 12-round unanimous decision in September 2008. Next, Berto took on former welterweight champion Luis Collazo, beating him by a narrow 12-round unanimous decision in January 2009.

Berto took a lot of punishment in that fight and was fortunate to escape with a decision, because he looked nothing like a champion in that fight. Naturally, Collazo wanted a rematch. However, Berto has other things in mind obviously. It’s a good thing, too, because Berto might not do so well in a rematch, and it’s best for him not to have to face a talented fighter like Collazo unless he absolutely has to.

Also on the same card, light middleweight contender Alfredo Angulo (15-0, 12 KOs) will face former welterweight champion Kermit Cintron (30-2-1, 27 KOs). Cintron, 29, is coming off a 12-round majority draw with Sergio Martinez in February 2009, a bout in which Cintron was knocked down in the 7th by a big left hand from Martinez, and seemingly counted out by referee Frank Santore. However, Cintron somehow convinced Santore the knockdown had occurred from a head butt and was allowed to continue fighting.

The fight was still in Martinez’s favor going into the 12th, but Santore struck again when he took a point away from Martinez for throwing a punch to the back of Cintron’s head. As it turned out, the punch landed to the back of Cintron’s head because he had ducked into the shot from Martinez, not because Sergio had attempted to throw a rabbit punch deliberately.

Before the point deduction, there had been no prior warnings given to Martinez for throwing rabbit punches, which made the sudden point deduction seem rather odd. The timing for the point deduction couldn’t have come at a worse time for Martinez, given that it was in the final round with the fight on the line.

Following the bout, Cintron took a lot of heat in the media because of his complaint of the knockdown having occurred because of a head butt. Many boxing fans felt that Cintron had been unjustly awarded a decision in a fight that he arguably should have lost twice, first with the blown call on the knockdown and then with the blown call on the rabbit punch.

Cintron’s opponent, the 26-year-old Angulo, has stopped his last 11 opponents and is looking almost unbeatable at this point in his career. With a high work rate that typically averages between 90-100 punches thrown per round and with his big power, he’s very dangerous for any fighter.

Angulo may not hit as hard as Cintron does with a single punch, but he comes close to it and is capable of punching with the same power with every shot he throws. Angulo recently stopped journeyman Cosme Rivera in the 5th round on February 14th, 2009. Before that, he stopped the tough Andrey Tsurkan by a 10th round TKO in October 2008.