By Michael Lieberman: The April 16th clash between WBC welterweight champion Andre Berto (27-0, 21 KO’s) and challenger Victor Ortiz (28-2-2, 22 KO’s) has finally found a home and will be taking place the Foxwoods Resort Casino, in Mashantucket, Connecticut. It’s an odd place for a fight, and will likely mean a smaller crowd compared to if the fight had taken place in Atlantic City or Las Vegas, Nevada.

For the 27-year-old Berto, this will be his third fight in six title defenses in which he’s fought someone from the light welterweight division. Despite his preference for fighting smaller guys, Berto refuses to move down in weight permanently to fight as a light welterweight. Why should he? If he’s able to get smaller guys to come up in weight to fight him, and thus have an advantage in size over them, why mess things up by moving down in weight on a permanent basis.

Ortiz is a struggling fighter right now. He had looked great when he was fighting aggressively earlier in his career, but since being stopped in the 6th round by Marcos Maidana in June 2009, Ortiz has tinkered with his fighting style and become much more defensively oriented. The new style of fighting doesn’t seem to work well for the power punching Ortiz, as he looked horrible in running from his last opponent Lamont Peterson last December instead of running over the light puncher. Ortiz had to settle for a 10 round draw in a fight he likely would have won by knockout had he just steam rolled over the weaker Peterson. If Ortiz fights the same way against Berto, he’ll lose. The only way Ortiz can be successful is if he goes back to slugging. He’s a terrible fighter when fighting defensively.