By Dan Ambrose: Former WBC welterweight champion Andre Berto (29-3, 22 KOs) will be trying to resurrect his career next month against the tough but limited former world title challenger Josesito Lopez (33-6, 19 KOs) on March 13th at the Citizens Business Bank Arena, in Ontario, California, USA.
Berto, 31, will be fighting on Spike TV on the Premier Boxing Champions series in what Berto hopes is a fight that will be successful for him. It would be Berto’s second straight win if he can beat the 30-year-old Lopez.
Berto is coming off of a win over Steve Upsher last September in a one-sided 10 round decision win. It was an impressive victory for Berto, but he had the perfect opponent for him to shine against because Upsher wasn’t in his class, and far cry from the top fighters at 147 that Berto will need to prove himself against if he starts facing better opposition in the future.
In the co-feature bout will be former IBF welterweight champion Shawn Porter (24-1, 15 KOs) fighting Roberto Garcia (36-3, 23 KOs).
“Fighting on the ‘Premier Boxing Champions’ series on Spike TV is huge for all of us and for the sport of boxing,” said Berto. “This is going to take all of us to a whole different level and give us the chance to become household names.”
If Haymon matches Berto carefully in his Spike TV series, we could see Berto turn things around in his career. However, it’s still going to take a minor miracle for Berto to improve enough to be able to compete with the likes of Kell Brook, Keith Thurman, Floyd Mayweather Jr or Manny Pacquiao.
You can pretty much cross out Mayweather and Pacquiao, because Berto has fallen too far in his boxing career and it’ll take him ages to bring himself back to where he was in 2011 when he was beaten by Victor Ortiz.
Last year, Berto was stopped by trial horse Jesus Soto Karass in a disappointing 12th round stoppage in July of 2013. Earlier in that fight, Berto suffered a torn tendon in his shoulder that led to him fighting with just one arm for most of the bout. Berto later had shoulder surgery to repair the problem.
A year earlier, Berto suffered a ruptured left biceps in 2012. In the same year, Berto was soundly beaten by Roberto Guerrero in a one-sided loss in November of 2012. That was a fight in which Berto took a great deal of punishment and ended up with two badly swollen eyes.
“I can’t wait to start this next chapter of my career and you’re going to see a new and rejuvenated Andre Berto on March 13 on Spike TV so make sure to tune in,” Berto said.
It would be very surprising if Berto is able to turn his career around in any real way to get back to where he was before. Berto has always had stamina problems throughout his pro career, and it’s doubtful that this is an area that can be improved upon.
It’s also questionable just how much Berto was able to soak up from his trainer Virgil Hunter to make the needed changes to his fighting style for him to resurrect his career.
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