By Jim Dower: WBC welterweight champion Andre Berto (26-0, 20 KO’s) will be taking on Freddy Hernandez (29-1, 20 KO’s) this Saturday night on the undercard of the Juan Manuel Marquez vs. Michael Katsidis bout at the MGM Grand, in Las Vegas, Nevada. This will be Berto’s 5th defense of his World Boxing Council title and a continuation of his practice of being matched against obscure and soft opponents. To be sure, Hernandez, 31, has an impressive looking record at first glance, but none of his wins have come against great fighters and he’s probably lucky to be ranked at #10 by the WBC.
Berto, 27, has been a huge disappointment to many boxing fans since winning the WBC title two years ago. Fans were hoping to see Berto in against quality fighters like Shane Mosley and Floyd Mayweather Jr., but what they’ve gotten instead is Berto taking on fighters like light welterweight Steve Forbes, light welterweight Juan Urango, Carlos Quintana, and Luis Callazo. Hernandez is more or less a continuation of these types of opponents for Berto.
HBO has shown all of Berto’s fights, betting that he will be the next welterweight star. Indeed, HBO has rammed Berto down the throat of boxing fans and the network seems to be slow in recognizing that Berto isn’t well liked. He’s been slow in building a fan base despite having his fights regularly aired by HBO. A combination of Berto’s mediocre opposition and his dull fighting style, which includes a great deal of hitting and immediately clinching, has made him painful to watch. Recently, Berto had the chance to fight Shane Mosley, but that fight was wiped out when Berto had to cancel the fight due to the Haiti earthquake which affected family members of Berto.
Berto should easily win on Saturday night against Hernandez. This should be yet another easy fight for Berto unless he falls apart suddenly for some reason. He’s clearly better than Hernandez. But Berto really needs to start stepping it up because he can’t make a career out of fighting obscure opponents. The word is HBO won’t continue to show his fights unless he starts taking on better opponents after this fight. Let’s see what happens. My guess is Berto will continue to be matched soft and his fights will no longer be shown on HBO.
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