World Boxing Council President Jose Sulaiman announced today that WBC heavyweight world champion Vitali Klitschko of Ukraine and official challenger Juan Carlos Gomez of Cuba/Germany have reached an agreement and signed for their mandatory fight. The purse offer, which was scheduled for tomorrow, has been cancelled.
Shelly Finkel, representing Klitschko, and Ahmet Oner, representing Gomez, told President Sulaiman about the agreement.
World Boxing Council Welterweight World Champion Andre Berto Featured in ESPN the Magazine
(MIAMI, FLA.) – Undefeated Welterweight World Champion Andre Berto (Winter Haven, Fla.) (23-0, 19 Kos) is featured in the January 12 issue of ESPN the Magazine. The six-page article highlights Berto’s road from an accomplished amateur to his second title defense on January 17, 2009.
Yuriorkis Gamboa and Odlanier Solis are ready to shine at the season premiere of ESPN’s “Friday Night Fights” next week (January 9th) at Terrible’s Primm Valley Casino Resorts. The 2004 Olympic gold medallists had no spare time over Christmas or New Year’s but have been working hard at their training camp in Primm, Nevada. “They both did a great job and will be perfectly prepared for their fights”, states coach Ismael Salas. “Odlanier is fired up to show the US public what he is made of. And Yuri knows that this is his last step before going for his first world title. He knows that he has to be focused and concentrated to fulfil his great dream to become champion of the world.”
By Dave Lahr: Undefeated WBC welterweight champion Andre Berto (23-0, 19 KOs) will be facing his biggest test of his young, four year professional career against former WBA welterweight champion Luis Collazo (29-3, 14 KOs) on January 17th at the Beau Rivage Resort & Casino, in Biloxi, Mississippi. Berto, 25, has fought mostly limited opponents up to this point, and looked both good and bad in beating tough B-class fighters like Miguel Angel Rodriguez, Michael Trabant and Cosme Rivera. Berto, a former 2004 Olympian for the Haiti team, has a combination of excellent hand speed, power and high volume work rate.
DiBella Entertainment is starting 2009 in style with two great world championship matchups, featuring hard-charging WBC welterweight champion Andre Berto making his second title defense versus number-one rated challenger and former WBA world champion Luis Collazo, and budding 154 pound superstar Sergio Martinez taking on undefeated, world-rated contender Joe Greene, for the interim WBC belt, to be seen on HBO’s Boxing After Dark, on Saturday, January 17, from the Beau Rivage Resort & Casino in Biloxi, MS.
By David Lar: Making his first defense of his WBC welterweight title, undefeated Andre Berto (23-0, 19 KOs) pounded out an impressive 12-round unanimous decision over Steve Forbes (33-7, 9 KOs) at the Staples Center, in Los Angeles, California. Berto, 25, rose to the occasion against arguably his best opponent of his career in the 31 year-old Forbes, a former IBF super featherweight champion and a former contestant on the reality television series The Contender. Forbes looked good initially, matching Berto’s hand speed with blazing speed of his own, and landing well in the first two rounds. Indeed, Forbes appeared to win both the first and second rounds with his fast left hooks which he landed often against Berto during this time of the fight.
However, Berto adjusted well, and then completely took over the fight with his explosive combinations to the head and body of Forbes. As the fight progressed, Forbes seemed to drastically reduce his own punch output to the point where by the 11th and 12th rounds, he was only attempting a handful of punches per round. Berto had a lot to do with that, because he punished Forbes badly, hitting him often with hard uppercuts and combinations and giving him a thorough beating.
By Chris Williams: WBC welterweight champion Andre Berto (22-0, 19 KOs) could have a big chance in the future for a potential but against Shane Mosley if Berto defeats challenger Steve Forbes (33-6, 9 KOs) tonight in a 12-round WBC title bout at the Staples Center, in Los Angeles, California. However, Berto, 25, thought to be the weakest of the four welterweight champions by many boxing fans, may have his problems with the crafty, counter-punching Forbes, who looks like a weaker version of Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Indeed, Forbes, 31, may have had his share of problems against the much bigger Oscar De La Hoya in his last fight in May, but against the short 5’8″ Berto, Forbes, a former IBF super featherweight champion, won’t have to worry about a reach disadvantage like he suffered in his last fight. Berto is easily one of the most entertaining of the welterweight’s in the division, with blazing fast hands, a tendency to slug it out with his opponents and a wide open defense which leaves him open constantly for shots from his opponents. For that reason, Berto is so exciting, because even against merely moderately good welterweights, Berto sometimes has to struggle to win, taking a tremendous amount of punishment along the way. Forbes, however, isn’t easy to hit, ducking shots, using a shoulder roll and upper body movement to get out of the way of punches. Berto will have to have a plan B to use just in case he’s not able to overwhelm him with punches like he often does to his other opponents.
By Jason Kim: Undefeated World Boxing Council welterweight champion Andre Berto (22-0, 19 KOs) will be making his first defense of his title on Saturday night against former IBF super featherweight champion and star from The Contender reality television series Steve Forbes in a 12-round title bout at the Staples Center, in Los Angeles, California. This will be match-up pitting two welterweights of almost equal height and speed. However, that’s where the similarities end, as Berto is the much more powerful puncher of the two, and additionally, he’s six years younger at 25 compared to the 31 year-old Forbes.
Both fighters are seemingly going in difference directions at this point in their careers, with Forbes having lost three out of his last four bouts. In light of that, it’s hard to imagine how the WBC saw fit to rank him at #13 in the welterweight division, because he rightfully so probably doesn’t deserve to be ranked anywhere close to the top 15 when it comes down to it. He’s a good fighter, don’t get me wrong, but he’s much too small for the welterweight division and undersized against virtually every opponent he faces. Knowing this, it’s somewhat shocking that Oscar De La Hoya, a light middleweight, opted to face him in May instead of a fighter more Oscar’s size. Being two divisions bigger than the former light welterweight Forbes, it wasn’t all that of a shock that De La Hoya ended up beating Forbes by a one-sided decision.
By Scott Gilfoid: It’s funny how a fight with Oscar De La Hoya has a way of adding a big boost to the career’s of certain boxers. This was never more apparent than in the case of former super featherweight Steve Forbes (33-6, 9 KOs) who will be getting a shot against the WBC welterweight champion Andre Berto (22-0, 19 KOs) on September 27th at the Staples Center, in Los Angeles, California. Forbes, 31, a fighter with almost zero power, has very little chance of pulling off an upset against the faster, and much more powerful Berto. In fact, it will probably be a minor miracle if Forbes is still around to here the final bell.
He’s a good fighter, but he’s hopelessly out of his league in the welterweight division and both too small and weak to compete against the big punchers in the division like Berto. Although he’s only an inch shorter than Berto at 5’7″, he doesn’t have the immense power to make up for his lack of size against the bigger welterweights. It’s a wonder that he even got the fight with Berto, considering that Forbes lost almost every round of his fight with De La Hoya, losing by a lopsided 12-round unanimous decision to the Golden Boy.
By Sean McDaniel: In watching newly crowned WBC welterweight champion Andre Berto (22-0, 19 KOs) defeat Miguel Angel Rodriguez (29-3, 23 KOs) by a 7th round TKO last Saturday night, a fight in which Berto struggled at times, I couldn’t help but wonder how Berto, 24, would do against the other top welterweights in the division like Miguel Cotto, Antonio Margarito, Kermit Cintron, Paul Williams, Carlos Quintana and Shane Mosley. I think Berto showed some good skills late in the fight against Rodriguez, especially in terms of speed and boxing skills, but he also – like in many of his fights – seemed vulnerable to right hands, which he seemed to get hit with far too many of by the limited Rodriguez.
What seemed to worry, besides Berto’s limited reach and height, was how average he looked against Rodriguez. This was a fighter that someone like Cotto, Margarito or Williams would have taken to school, beating him like a child all around the ring, never giving him a chance to get into the fight and very likely stopping him within a few brutally one-sided rounds. However, in Berto’s case, he was forced to fight hard against Rodriguez, and absorbed more than a few big right hands and left hooks from him. More importantly, Berto had big problems with Rodriguez’s bigger reach advantage which enabled him to land effectively from the outside.