Editorials

Floyd Mayweather’s Next Fight: Making A Case for Andre Berto

Don’t think Floyd Mayweather vs. Andre Berto is worth your time and money? Think again.

Mayweather-Berto Presser (12) Photo by Ismael Gallardo/RBRBoxing

Bad news travels fast.

Andre Berto (30-3, 23 KOs) is bidding Floyd Mayweather Jr., the pound-for-pound king himself, farewell on September 12 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. It’s a terrible matchup and no one is shy to say it.

Mayweather dug his hands deep—really, really deep—into the welterweight ranks to draw his next opponent. BoxRec.com would tell you Berto, 3-3 in his last six fights, is the 22nd best 147-pound fighter in the world.

It’s a farce of a matchup and a near unprecedented mismatch, according to odds-makers. But it’s happening and we have to get used to it.

Here are a few points that you can take comfort in come fight night.

 

For Speed Kills

Styles make fights, as the adage goes.

Mayweather is undefeated, last losing (or robbed) at the 1996 Summer Olympics, “Money” has boxed his way up the pinnacle of the gloved arts, trading punches with a wide variety of stylists through virtually two decades as a professional.

48 fights in and still not a single loss. What would it take to beat him?

Pristine boxer-punchers Juan Manuel Marquez and Miguel Cotto have had their shot. They failed. As did buzzsaw punchers Manny Pacquiao and Diego Corrales.

Legends (albeit aging ones) Shane Mosley and Oscar De La Hoya pushed Mayweather to the limit but were ultimately unsuccessful.

And of course cutthroat brawlers and swarmers like Ricky Hatton, Jose Luis Castillo and Marcos Maidana, always thought to be his one kryptonite, came up short, too.

After turning back Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, the perfect blend of youth, pressure-fighting and stinging power-punching, in 2013, Bleacher Report’s Combat Sports Lead Writer Jonathan Snowden noted it was going to take something far different to upset Mayweather:

[otw_shortcode_quote border=”bordered” border_style=”bordered”]Mayweather’s toughest test will come from someone with the speed and boxing acumen to match him in a game of physical chess. The next great challenger for Mayweather, the man to kill the king, will be a smaller fighter coming up in weight, someone just as fast and sharp as he is.[/otw_shortcode_quote]

Mayweather hasn’t faced a man with the handspeed Berto possesses since Zab Judah in 2006.

And speaking of Canelo, the week following Mayweather’s dull decision victory over blood-rival Pacquiao, “Kid Cinnamon” threw down with the uncouth James Kirkland who hadn’t beaten, yet alone stepped into the ring with, anybody in nearly two years. Kirkland was “underserving” of a fight with the No. 1 junior middleweight in the world, yet, the melee that ensued sparked a revival in the boxing community.

That’s because, again, styles make fights.

While Snowden made mention of Amir Khan as the quintessential foil, where Berto lacks Khan’s refined fundamentals and “chess-playing,” Berto more than makes up for in a hyperactive punch output and a far sturdier chin.

Berto’s track record of violence, highlighted by his shootout with Victor Ortiz (which is generally considered the best fight of 2011), promises to give fight fans an actual fight to remember. Berto always does.

That’s already more than any normal Mayweather attraction usually offers.

 

Reputation Is an Idle and Most False Imposition

A casual criticism levied toward Mayweather-Berto has to do with Berto not being consensually recognized as a “top-10 welterweight.” While true, a little perspective makes a joke out of a statement like that.

As of August 15, 2015, the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board and The Ring TV rate Diego Gabriel Chaves, likable yet crude journeyman, and Sadam Ali, the latest New York hype job, in the Top 10 at 147 pounds. Neither man has ever beaten an elite fighter and both lack the physical tools Berto does.

BertoSotoKarass4 Photo by Naoki Fukada

This matchup, again, is a farce. It reeks. But one can’t say it’s because “Berto isn’t even Top 10!” Because paying for Mayweather vs. Chaves or (for pity’s sake) Ali would be even worse.

Now, the welterweight talent pool is likely the most talented in all of boxing. It’s become popular to say Mayweather should be stepping into the ring with Keith Thurman or Shawn Porter or Amir Khan. But realistically, there’s only one man below 160 pounds that merits a crack at Mayweather and that’s Timothy Bradley.

Thurman is a fine boxer-puncher but he has beaten maybe one ranked opponent (Robert Guerrero) and was nearly stopped last time out against the walking corpse of Luis Collazo. Khan was also stupefied in his latest ring appearance—staggered at the hands of the feather-fisted Chris Algieri.

Porter’s most recent outing was impressive, pummeling “Little Brother” Adrien Broner. But Broner hadn’t competed at welterweight for over two years.

Bradley has outpunched the punchers and outbrawled the brawlers from junior welterweight and welterweight. While falling to eight-division world champion Pacquiao in their most recent fight, “Desert Storm” remains the only other welterweight on the TBRB’s pound-for-pound list.

Pacquiao fought Mayweather this past May. It should have been Bradley’s turn next.

Not to mention, Bradley was the mandatory to Mayweather’s recently relinquished WBO strap. But Bradley didn’t get the fight—his promoter Top Rank’s irksome relationship with Money obviously being the biggest roadblock.

He’s no stranger to getting the short end of the stick. If he wasn’t getting the fight, justice has already been miscarried, no matter who did end up securing it.

 

Hero

Andre Berto vs. Josesito Lopez 2 Kevork Djansezian Getty Images Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

In January 2010, Andre Berto was set to challenge Shane Mosley for welterweight supremacy. But on Jan. 12, an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.0 struck Haiti, the birth country of Berto’s parents.

Berto, who represented Haiti in the 2004 Olympics, promptly pulled out of the Mosley match. He would lose eight relatives from the ordeal but used the passion he wages war with in the ring to help the relief efforts.

The Berto Dynasty Foundation was established and has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to improve conditions in Haiti. To this day, Berto still regularly visits the country and through his foundation has rebuilt orphanages, set up recreational programs for children and built over 15 freshwater wells.

Renown boxing writer Gordon Marino, for one, is satisfied in knowing a charitable man like Berto has secured a fight with Mayweather. As a professor of philosophy, Marino knows a thing or two about virtue and heroics:

Berto wasn’t on the top of anybody’s wish list to see Mayweather off (which most aren’t convinced will actually be his last fight).

But win or lose, his fists won’t stop flying because that isn’t the only fight he’s fighting.

If anybody’s taking on Mayweather, at least it’s a hero like Berto.

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