By Scott Gilfoid: World Boxing Council welterweight champion Andre Berto (26-0, 20 KO’s) successfully defending his WBC title for the fourth time with an 8th round stoppage win over former WBO welterweight champion Carlos Quintana (27-3, 21 KO’s) on Saturday night at the BankAtlantic Center, in Sunrise, Florida. Berto, 26, had problems in the first half of the fight with Quintana’s movement, jab and wily boxing skills.
However, in the 8th round with Quintana tiring, Berto put his offense into a higher gear and went after Quintana with power shots, hurting him badly and driving him across the ring. Berto caught Quintana in the corner and landed a huge right hand that snapped Quintana’s head back violently, causing referee Tommy Kimmons to step in and stop the bout at 2:16 of the round to prevent Berto from hurting Quintana any further.
After the fight, Berto’s promoter expressed interest in matching Berto with WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao, who has no opponent scheduled as of now. Pacquiao is hoping to get a fight with the winner of the Shane Mosley vs. Floyd Mayweather bout which takes place next month on May 1st. However, there are problems with a setting up a fight against Pacquiao for a couple of reasons.
First of all, Mayweather has a rematch clause in his contract with Mosley so even if Shane does beat him, he’d have to immediately fight Mayweather again and couldn’t face Pacquiao immediately. The other reason is that Mayweather, if he beats Mosley, will probably want Pacquiao to agree to take the Olympic style random blood tests before he’ll fight him. Pacquiao likely won’t do that. This means that there is very little chance that Pacquiao will be fighting Mayweather next. Other than that, the options for Pacquiao are pretty dismal with fellow Top Rank fighters like Yuri Foreman and Antonio Margarito being a couple of possible opponents. Berto would seem to be a much better option than either of those fighters.
Berto looked far from impressive against Quintana on Saturday night. He had problems dealing with Quintana’s movement and jab for most of the fight. And Berto continued with his problem of punching and immediately grabbing. In this case, Berto often grabbed Quintana even when not throwing a punch. He would just immediately go for a clinch. Berto also missed with a lot of his shots, and seemed to be just throwing shots without putting much emphasis in aiming them.
In the opening round, Quintana knocked Berto down with a short right hand to the side of the head as he was reaching for yet another one of his many clinches. The referee mistakenly ruled it a shot to the back of the head and didn’t count it. However, on replay, the punch clearly landed the side of Berto’s head and not to the back. It didn’t really matter, because Berto had problems in the round anyway, as he was eating jabs on the outside and couldn’t really get near Quintana without getting hit.
Berto looked clumsy and uncoordinated in the round, missing with many of shots and rarely landing. Berto continued to look poor in rounds two through four, eating jabs and getting caught with straight left hands as he would rush in trying to clinch or punch. Berto missed with a lot of his attempts at landing, and seemed to have almost zero accuracy.
In the 3rd round, the referee deducted a point from Quintana after he landed a shot to the back of Berto’s head after turning him around. It was a good call, but Berto still looked horrible in the round, not landing and eating jabs as if they were cornflakes. Berto threw no jabs, which was a problem because he didn’t the reach to get in punching range without eating seven or eight jabs to the head on the way in.
Berto clinched constantly in the 4th round, grabbing without even throwing in lot of cases. It was really ugly stuff. In the 5th, Berto staggered Quintana with a hard right hand, but then was unable to capitalize on it because he missed with a flurry of punches immediately after hurting him.
Quintana didn’t seem to be really hurt and spent the last 30 seconds of the round punching Berto silly. Quintana moved well in the 6th and 7th rounds, dominating the short 5’8” Berto, and making him dine on jabs and straight lefts. Berto continued to clinch for all he was worth, and, of course, miss with tons of punches. In the 8th round, Berto hurt Quintana with a hard right hand and then went after him with a flurry of shots as Quintana tried to escape. The referee finally had seen enough and stepped in after Berto landed one final right hand that snapped Quintana’s head back.
If Berto is selected by Pacquiao as his next opponent, I see this fight ending up as a massacre for Pacquiao. Berto’s a good welterweight, but not really in the class of Pacquiao, Shane Mosley or Floyd Mayweather Jr. I think Berto would have his moments against Pacquiao but would be overwhelmed and taken out in five or six rounds.
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