By Jim Dower: WBA/WBC welterweight champion Floyd “Money” Mayweather Jr. (48-0, 26 KOs) successfully weighed in on Friday at the weigh-in in coming in at 146 pounds for his fight on Saturday night against 32-year-old Andre Berto (30-3, 23 KOs) at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. The 5’6 1/2″ Berto weighed in at a very lean looking 145 pounds.
Mayweather and Berto did some jawing during the face off. Mayweather appeared to do most of the talking.
“I’m here for a reason,” Berto said. “On Saturday night I’m going to do what I do.It doesn’t matter. I feel like I’m here for a reason on Saturday,” Berto added.
Mayweather said “This is the last time I’m ever getting on a scale. It has always been easy for me to make the 147 pound weight. I don’t overlook any opponent. I know how to win a fight of this magnitude. I couldn’t do it without the fans. I’ve beat all the top fighters. Since Pacquiao didn’t give the fans a good fight, tomorrow night we’re going to give the fans a great fight.”
When asked if he would be willing to come back and fight Pacquiao in a rematch, Mayweather said “I’m with Showtime. I only fight Showtime fighters.”
I guess the last comment from Mayweather ends any talk of a rematch between him and Manny Pacquiao. Earlier today, Pacquiao said that Mayweather should give him a rematch due to the IV drip scandal that recently was unearthed this week. Pacquiao feels that Mayweather now owes him a rematch. It doesn’t appear that Mayweather is going to give him the rematch even though it would make Mayweather a great deal of money if he were to take the fight. You can make an argument that Mayweather should give Pacquiao a rematch to help clear up the controversy. The IV scandal doesn’t help Mayweather’s legacy.
The Mayweather-Berto fight will be televised on Showtime pay-per-view beginning at 8pm ET/5pm PT.
Berto is going to give it his all on Saturday night to try and pull off an upset and “shock the world” as he likes to say. Berto has the punching power to win the fight, but his recent ring record suggests that he’s going to lose the fight and lose it badly. Berto has been struggling in the ring for the past four years since 2011.
While some of Berto’s problems are the result of injuries, you can’t blame his defeats to Robert Guerrero and Victor Ortiz on injuries. Those were fights in which Berto was simply out-slugged. Ortiz and Guerrero both took the fight to Berto and beat him at his own game. Berto was never even competitive with Guerrero in their fight in 2013. That was a fight in which Berto was knocked down in the 1st and 2nd rounds, and he would up with two badly swollen eyes as a result of Guerrero’s offense.
Other weights on the card:
Roman “Rocky” Martinez 130 – Orlando Salido 129.5
Roman Martinez 129.5 – Orlando Salido 130
Badou Jack 167.5 – George Groves 168
Johnny Gonzalez 129 – Jonathon Oquendo 129
Vanes Martirosyan 154.5 – Ishe Smith 154
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