By Jim Dower: Undefeated World Boxing Council (WBC) welterweight champion Andre Berto (26-0, 20 KO’s) is kicking around the idea of moving down in weight to the junior welterweight division, according to the latest boxing news. Berto, 5’8”, said recently that he’s considering the move. However, he says he wants to stay at welterweight for the time being because right now the biggest stars in the sport – Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. – are at that weight class.
However, once those fighters are gone, which could be soon, then the junior welterweight division could be a much more appealing option for Berto with fighters like WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan, IBF/WBC champion Devon Alexander, WBO title holder Timothy Bradley and WBA light welterweight interim champion Marcos Maidana.
If you take Pacquiao and Mayweather out of the equation at welterweight, there’s really not much there for Berto to fight down the road other than 19-year-old Saul Alvarez. That might make for an interesting fight in two to four years, but right now Alvarez doesn’t look remotely ready for Berto, and he’s still almost totally unknown to U.S. boxing fans.
Berto plans on fighting again in August or September, possibly against Shane Mosley or Jan Zaveck. Either of those fights would be good for Berto, especially the Mosley bout. Shane was dominated by Mayweather Jr. in a 12 round decision loss on May 1st, and Mosley has a lot to prove in coming back from that fight. Many people think that Mosley is shot, as he faded badly after hurting Mayweather in the 2nd round.
Berto defeated Carlos Quintana in an 8th round TKO on April 10th. Berto hurt his left arm in that fight but was able to pull out the win in the 8th with a flurry of power shots. For Berto, this was easily his best performance in the past two years dating back to his 7th round TKO win over Miguel Angel Rodriguez in June 2008.
Berto had become more of a punch and grab fighter after that win, and had looked poor in beating fighters like Steve Forbes, Luis Collazo and Juan Urango until Berto’s recent win over Quintana. At 26, many people see Berto as the future of the welterweight division. That may be, but if there are no other stars in the division besides himself and Alvarez, it will be pretty meaningless.
Berto needs to hope that he can somehow get a big money fight against either Pacquiao or Mayweather before they both retire or else he could find it hard to find big mega fights in the future unless Amir Khan can be steered around the big sluggers long enough to keep him winning so that Berto and him can meet for a good paying fight. You would have to favor Berto in a match-up with Khan at this point because of Berto’s all around bigger power and more rugged fighting style. However, Berto would have very little chance of beating either Mayweather or Pacquiao.
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