By Jim Dower: #2 ranked WBC welterweight contender Selcuk Aydin (20-0, 15 KO’s) wants his title shot that’s owed him by World Boxing Council welterweight champion Andre Berto (27-0, 21 KO’s). Aydin, 27, reportedly took a step aside fee so that Berto could take the fight with the lower ranked Freddy Hernandez in November, but Aydin, the mandatory challenger for Berto, now wants his title shot. Aydin is not happy that Berto is talking of now fighting a bout against light welterweight Victor Ortiz on April 16th instead of facing him.

In an article by Dan Rafael of ESPN, Aydin said “How can Berto and his promoter even talk to and about guys like Ortiz when they know exactly that they have to fight me first. This is very disrespectful and really pisses me off. They know exactly that I am the mandatory challenger. I stepped aside once and allowed them an easy win over a stiff [Hernandez]. Now they want to take the easy way out again by just discussing possible fights and completely ignoring me. I don’t understand this kind of behavior. If Berto still wants to duck me after almost two years, he should just relinquish the title. He is not a real champion. He doesn’t fulfill his obligations. He should stop wearing the belt that I should have stripped from him a long time ago.”

Aydin has a point. He should have never agreed to take the step aside fee so that Berto could face Hernandez. Now it looks like he’s counting on being able to bypass the hard hitting Aydin again by facing the light welterweight Ortiz. Aydin needs to force the issue otherwise he could be facing Ortiz next and not Berto, because Ortiz has a real chance of beating the badly flawed Berto.

According to Rafael, there will be a purse bid for the Berto vs. Aydin fight on 1/28 if they can’t reach an agreement before then.

Berto has been a disappointing champion during the three years he’s held the WBC title. Instead of taking on dangerous opponents, Berto has fought light welterweights and less than popular welterweights. Some people think Berto has been mainly concerned with trying to keep his WBC title by milking it against weak opposition.