By Dan Ambrose: WBC welterweight champion Andre Berto (27-0, 21 KO’s) is happy to be fighting light welterweight Victor Ortiz (28-2-2, 22 KO’s) on April 16th at the Foxwoods Resort Casino, Mashantucket, Connecticut. Berto, 27, will be making his sixth defense of his World Boxing Council belt with three of them coming against light welterweights instead of fighters from his own weight class. Berto, however, remains happy with the situation, saying “This fight is exactly what boxing needs right now.
Two young fighters in their primes going head-to-head. I’m excited and I know this is going to be a tremendous fight.” It might be a better fight if Berto would take on #3 ranked Mike Jones instead of yet another light welterweight. Ortiz is a fighter that is struggling right now with his confidence and doesn’t seem to know whether he wants to be a slugger or a boxer. He’s clearly a much better slugger than he is a boxer, as we saw in his fight with Lamont Peterson last December.
Ortiz did a great job when slugging it out with Peterson in the early rounds, knocking him down a couple of times and really dominating. But when Ortiz started boxing, he looked out of place, and didn’t do at all well. He ended up running from a lot weaker puncher and causing the fight to end in a 10 round draw. Berto is a much better puncher than Peterson, and he’s got to be feeling pretty good about his chances of winning this fight based on how confused Ortiz looked in that fight. Ortiz has the power to knock Berto out but he’s going to have to fight aggressively to do that. He can’t win by running from him.
Ortiz said “I’m going to knock him out.” He isn’t if he fights passively. He’s going to have to fight similar to the way he did in the Marcos Maidana fight before things went bad for Ortiz.
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