By Tim Fletcher: #5 WBC Andre Berto (30-4, 23 KOs) is interested in facing the winner of the January 23rd fight between #2 WBC Danny Garcia (31-0, 18 KOs) and #6 WBC Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero (33-3-1, 18 KOs).

Berto, 32, hasn’t fought since he was soundly beaten by WBA/WBC welterweight champion Floyd “Money” Mayweather Jr by a lopsided 12 round unanimous decision last May at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Berto has lost three out of his last five fights, but for some reason the World Boxing Council has him ranked at No.5 with their organization.

“I want to go into the New Year feeling like I’m ready to go. I ain’t too rusty,” Berto said to Fighthype. “It’s takeover mode for me. I just want everybody. I really love the winner or loser out of Guerrero or Garcia…Porter’s a good one.”

It won’t be surprising if the winner of the Garcia vs. Guerrero fight does wind up facing Berto, because all three of them are with Al Haymon. It’s a logical fight to make and a potentially safe one for Garcia, who you would have to assume would have enough to defeat this version of Berto.

Garcia wants to fight for the WBC welterweight title, and he’d like to face WBC #1 Amir Khan. However, it is not likely that Khan will choose to fight for the WBC title because he seems more interested in facing IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook for his 147lb title. If Garcia gets stuck fighting guys like Berto, he could miss out on other more important fights. Garcia has been matched pretty softly for a while now since his win over Lucas Matthysse. He’s got to start facing better opposition at some point if he wants to be one of the best fighters in the 147lb division. Fighting Berto is more of a waste of time for Garcia.

Speaking about his loss to Mayweather, Berto said “I got a lot of experience from it. I got a lot of attention from it.”

Berto lost in an embarrassing fashion to Mayweather. He was so far out of his class in that fight that Mayweather wound up toying with him for the entire 12 round fight. Berto had no answers for what Mayweather was doing. Berto tried to turn the heat up on Mayweather, but he did not have the hand speed or the talent to land anything.

If Berto can get the winner of the Guerrero vs. Garcia fight, it could be the last big fight for him, because I can’t see him being given too many more chances. He’s already lost 3 out of his last 5 fights. His only recent wins have come against Josesito Lopez and Steven Upsher Chambers. If Berto loses to the winner of the Guerrero-Garcia fight, he will have lost 4 out of his last 6 fights.

It’s difficult to picture Berto being able to beat Guerrero or Garcia at this point. He already lost to Guerrero by a lopsided 12 round unanimous decision three years ago in 2012, but it doesn’t look like Berto has improved since then. Guerrero doesn’t look like he’s improved either, but I think he’s got more left in the tank than Berto does at this point.