By Chris Williams: Undefeated World Boxing Council (WBC) welterweight champion Andre Berto (27-0, 21 KO’s) took off the gloves to give some hard words for 39-year-old Shane Mosley yesterday on Berto’s twitter page. Mosley is considered the favorite to get a huge money fight with WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao on May 7th next year, although Berto and Juan Manuel Marquez are also being considered for the fight by Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum.

Speaking on his twitter page, Berto said this about Mosley: “You need to go ahead and step aside. Go sit in your little old man rocking chair and stir some coffee real slow. I got this. Do you really want to see Pac fight Mosley’s old a$$? Boxing is looking for that new young fresh face, not grandpas.”

I bet that hurts. Arum likes Mosley for Pacquiao’s next fight, as does Pacquiao’s adviser Michael Koncz. However, Berto is fighting at a very high level right now, and may be getting near his peak. He’s definitely improved a lot in the past year, as he’s shown with impressive wins over Carlos Quintana and Freddy Hernandez.

In looking at those two fights, there’s little question that Berto looks to be much better than Mosley right now. However, that still won’t get Berto the fight. Arum has decided that he now wants Pacquiao to be fighting guys that are well known by the casual boxing fans in the U.S.

Why Arum has decided to start using that criterion is a mystery because he didn’t seem to mind when he was matching Pacquiao up against little known fighters Antonio Margarito and Joshua Clottey recently. Those fighters weren’t well known to the average casual boxing at the time that Arum put them in with Pacquiao. But it looks like Berto and Marquez won’t get a shot because they’re not as well-known as Mosley. That sounds like a convenient excuse. I see it as Berto being too dangerous for Pacquiao compared to Mosley rather than him being unknown.