By Jim Dower: Former IBF/WBC welterweight champion Andre Berto (30-3, 23 KOs) isn’t just planning on showing up on September 12th to just collect a payday in his fight against WBA/WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. (48, 26 KOs) at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Berto, 31, will be coming to win, and he expects to surprise a lot of boxing fans by taking Mayweather’s titles away from him as well as his unbeaten record. The serious career-threatening shoulder injury Berto suffered two years ago in his 12th round knockout loss to Jesus Soto Karass is thing of the past.
Berto was able to come back from the surgery after rehabbing it thoroughly. Berto’s shoulder is now about as good as new.
Berto has no pressure on him in this fight against Mayweather because everyone is expecting him to lose the fight by either a knockout or a one-sided 12 round decision. That’s a good thing for Berto because without pressure, he can shock the fans by fighting over his head and their expectations. Mayweather likely won’t be expecting much from Berto because he’ll assume that he’s going to be facing the same fighter who was beaten by Soto Karass, Victor Ortiz and Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero.
“I’ve gone through so many injuries, trials and tribulations over the past few years but now I know it was all for a reason,” said Berto via Fight News. “This fight is coming at the perfect time. I’m healthier than I have been in years and everyone is going to see that on September 12. I’m coming to shock the world.”
Berto can blame his loss to Soto Karass on an injury he sustained in that fight, but he can’t blame his defeat against Ortiz and Guerrero on injuries. Berto lost those fights because he was dominated by better fighters. Berto does well against guys that fight at a slow pace and let him be the one to dictate the pace of the fight. But Guerrero and Ortiz took the fight to Berto, forcing him to fight at a fast pace that he wasn’t comfortable with.
Berto needed to rest with his back against the ropes in the 2nd half of those fights and that’s where he took a lot of punishment and was outworked. Against Soto Karass, Berto also struggled by the fast pace of the fight, but he was dealing with a torn up shoulder he suffered in the 2nd round. Berto would have won that fight if he was healthy.
If Berto is going to beat Mayweather on September 12th, he’s going to need to fight at a fast pace without running out of gas and needing to rest against the ropes. If Berto goes to the ropes against Mayweather, he’s going to get picked apart and stopped. We saw what happened with Saul “Canelo” Alvarez when he went to the ropes against Mayweather in their fight in 2013. It didn’t more than a minute on the ropes for Canelo’s face to start swelling up. If Berto goes to the ropes and tries fighting there for six rounds like he did against Ortiz and Guerrero, he’ll get knocked out by Mayweather.
Berto hasn’t looked really good for the past five years since beating Freddy Hernandez by a 1st round knockout in 2010. That version of Berto would give Mayweather problems because he was both powerful and fast back them. Berto is still a hard puncher, but his speed doesn’t look nearly as fast and he’s not as explosive as he was years ago due to the loss of speed.
Berto looked good in his last two fights against Josesito Lopez and Steven Upsher Chambers. Berto looked better in the Chambers fight than he did against Lopez. He totally dominated Chambers, but the Lopez fight was given and take until Berto caught him with a big shot and stopped him in the 6th round. Berto did a good job of finishing Lopez after he had him hurt. With the way that Berto fought, he would have stopped almost any welterweight when he was going for the kill. Berto didn’t miss a punch and he was throwing with a lot of power.
Berto has a chance to increase his popularity and get bigger fights in the future depending on how he looks against Mayweather. If Berto looks good in losing, he’ll still be in demand by a lot of fighters. Of course, if Berto wins, he’ll likely get a big money rematch and wind up with a lot of money in his back account like Marcos Maidana after his two fights against Mayweather.
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