By Eric Thomas: Former IBF/WBC welterweight champion Andre Berto (28-2, 22 KO’s) is in a do or die fight on July 27th against the always tough Jesus Soto Karass (27-8-3, 17 KO’s) at the At&T Center in San Antonio, Texas. Berto hasn’t fought since taking a beating in losing to Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero last November in Ontario, Texas.
That was the fight where Berto experimented with the shoulder roll defense for 12 rounds and looked totally confused in how to use it. Berto didn’t lose the fight because of the shoulder roll. He would have lost to Guerrero no matter what defensive approach he used for that fight.
Berto didn’t have the stamina to get off the ropes and fight Guerrero in the center of the ring and it cost him the fight. The shoulder just made things worse for Berto.
Berto is now situation where he can’t afford to lose if he wants to stay in the top 15 world rankings. He’s lost two out of his last three fights and looked poor in both losses. Victor Ortiz defeated Berto two years ago by a 12 round unanimous decision in April 2011. Berto made the same mistake in that fight that he did in his loss to Guerrero by staying on the ropes for 12 rounds.
Soto-Karass is Guerrero part 2. He fights like Guerrero except that he’s bigger with longer arms and better power and he never stops punching like Guerrero. Berto’s only chance of beating Soto Karass is to go after him early and try to force a stoppage before he starts wearing Berto down.
Soto-Karass is coming off a nice 10 round majority decision win over Selcuk Aydin last January in a fight that wasn’t close at all. One judge scored it 95-95, but the other two judges had it scored 97-93 and 97-93.
Berto is going to have to stay in the center of the ring if he wants to win this fight because he’s not going to be able to beat a fighter like Soto-Karass fighting with his back against the ropes like he did in his losses to Ortiz and Guerrero.
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