By Jeff Aranow: Former 147 pound world champions Andre Berto and Devon Alexander will be going all out tonight to put themselves in position for an important world title shot. Berto (31-5, 24 KOs) and Alexander (27-4-1, 14 KOs) are facing each other at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, New York. The fight will be televised live on Premier Boxing Champions on Fox and Fox Deportes.
The 34-year-old Berto has been around the welterweight division for a long time, and he’s tasted the big money in a fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. A win over Alexander will put Berto in position to fight for a world title against IBF champion Errol Spence Jr., WBA champion Keith ‘One Time’ Thurman or the winner of the Danny Garcia vs. Shawn Porter fight for the WBC belt.
”I took time to rejuvenate myself and I’ve come back and gotten myself into great shape. I appreciate what Devon Alexander has been through, but he’s dealing with a different animal on Saturday night,” Berto said.
Alexander is likely going to try and take the fight to the inside and wear Berto down in close the same way that Shawn Porter did in stopping him in the 9th round last year in April. Berto has always had problems fighting guys that forced an inside war. Back in January 2009, Berto was out-fought on the inside by Luis Collazo. Berto won the fight by a controversial 12 round unanimous decision, but a lot of boxing fans thought he deserved to lose.
Alexander, 31, is a very good inside fighter with a lot of experience. Alexander will have already taken note of Berto’s problems fighting guys in close, so you can expect this fight to be fought at close quarters for as long as it lasts. The difference between Alexander and Porter in how he goes about fighting Berto is he’ll likely not try and rough him up. Alexander doesn’t rough up his opponents the way that Porter does. Berto might be able to hang with Alexander on the inside if he’s not roughed up to the same extent as he was against Porter.
“I’m going to push Devon. I don’t think he’s fought any that brings what I do since he came back from his layoff,” Berto said. ”We’re going to see if he’s back. If he’s not ready, then I’m going to make it a long night for him.”
Berto vs. Alexander could come down to which of the two has the better engine. Berto will need to be careful that he doesn’t gas out tonight because if he pushes too fast of a pace, he could wear himself down in the process.
Peter Quillin (33-1-1, 23 KOs) will be looking to resurrect his career tonight against J’Leon Love (24-1-1, 14 KOs) in the co-feature bout on the card. This fight will be taking place in the super middleweight division. Quillin is making only his second fight at the weight since moving up to 168 last year against Dashon Johnson last September.
Quillin wants a world title shot at super middleweight. He’s currently not ranked in the top 15 by any of the four sanctioning bodies at 168. For Quillin to get a title shot, he’ll likely need some help from one of the champions, as he’s not active enough with his career for him to work his way to a mandatory spot like most fighters need to.
”I’m ready to show everyone that I still have what it takes to compete for a world title. This is something I’ve been looking forward to for a long time now,” Quillin said.
Quillin is getting up there in age at 35, and it’s quite possible that he could get beaten by the younger Love.
Other fights tonight:
– Marcus Browne vs. Lenin Castillo – light heavyweight
– Luis Collazo vs. Bryant Perrella – welterweight
– Alicia Napoleon vs. Hannah Rankin