By Dan Ambrose: Floyd Mayweather Jr. (48-0, 26 KOs) is promising to push the limits when he battles Andre Berto (30-3, 23 KOs) in what the 38-year-old Mayweather has been selling as the last fight of his 19-year pro career. Whether that’s actually true or not remains to be see. But it will be interesting if Mayweather fights in a more aggressive manner tonight instead of playing it safe like he did in his last fight against Manny Pacquiao on May 2nd of this year.
Mayweather put the blame squarely on Pacquiao’s shoulders for that fight failing to live up to the billing, but it’s pretty clear that it was Mayweather who was the one who failed to come to fight.
Mayweather ran around the ring all night long looking to avoid Pacquiao, and fighting defensively at all times. That’s why it’s almost a confession from Mayweather that he failed to do his job the last time he fought now that he’s talking about pushing the limits for this fight.
“I’m going to just push the limit for this fight and see what I can accomplish,” Mayweather said. “I just want to win and go out on top.”
Mayweather has the right opponent for him to fight aggressively against tonight. Berto has lost half of his last six fights, and he’s looked really bad in defeats to Victor Ortiz, Jesus Soto Karass and Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero. There are major question marks about whether Berto can still take a punch or not, and whether his legs are gone. It’s not a good sign that Berto had to rally to win his last fight against Josesito Lopez last March.
Mayweather thinks that Berto impressed in that fight, but the reality is he did not look good until he hurt Lopez with a big shot and took him out in the 6th. Up until that shot, Berto looked as bad as he had in his defeats to Soto Karass and Guerrero.
The thing of it is Berto wasn’t hurt for the Lopez fight, so he should have been able to fight at a high level. Berto has blamed his problems in the past due to his injuries, but he didn’t have an injury for the Lopez fight and yet he still looked really bad. When a fighter like Lopez is able to dominate you like he was with Berto, it’s a sign that you’re game isn’t where it should be.
Teddy Atlas, the new trainer for WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley, thinks that Berto’s punch resistance and legs are both gone. He doesn’t think Berto can take a big shot anymore without getting hurt, and he doesn’t think he can move anymore around the ring like he had earlier in his career.
“Maybe you get a knockout. I’m wondering if the legs are a little gone with Berto,” Atlas said via fighthype.com. “Maybe Berto will be tested in that way. If Floyd was to tap him with a right hand. If he does that, maybe you get a little wiggle from Berto,” Atlas said.
That’s what a lot of people suspect about Berto getting hurt if Mayweather hits him with a solid shot. Mayweather will get his knockout, but it’s not going to mean a lot because he’s facing an opponent who appears to have left his prime behind in the rear view mirror five years ago. Berto stopped looking good back in 2011, when he was beaten by Ortiz.
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