By Dan Ambrose: Former IBF/WBC welterweight champion Andre Berto (28-1, 22 KO’s) will be stepping up in weight to take on IBF junior middleweight champion Cornelius Bundrage (32-4, 19 KO’s) on November 24th on HBO, according to Dan Rafael of ESPN.
This is an incredibly risky right for the 28-year-old Berto because he doesn’t have the frame to compete against a guy as big and as strong as the 39-year-old Bundrage. You can ignore Bundrage’s age because he’s a lot like Bernard Hopkins with his ability to fight at an incredibly high level at an advanced age. In truth, Bundrage is more like a fighter at his peak at 28 rather than 39 and he’s going to be a problem for Berto if this fight gets made.
Berto’s last fight was a year ago last September in beating IBF welterweight champion Jan Zaveck by a 5th round stoppage when Zaveck’s right eye closed on him. However, Zaveck was coming back in that fight after Berto started to show signs of gassing out like he had in his fight before that against Victor Ortiz in April of last year.
Bundrage stopped Cory Spinks by a 7th round TKO last June. Bundrage hasn’t lost a fight since getting beaten by Grady Brewer by a 10th round split decision in 2008. Bundrage is a different fighter now compared to back then and I can’t see him losing to someone like Brewer at this stage in his career.
Berto is going to have problems against Bundrage unless he can get him out of there in four or five rounds. If Berto can’t take Bundrage out before the halfway point in the fight then I see Bundrage coming on to win a decision against an exhausted Berto.
What’s surprising is that Berto is looking to fight a junior middleweight than someone from his own weight class at 147. It makes more sense for Berto to be taking on guys his own size than for him to be facing a big guy like Bundrage.
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