Andre Berto gets another easy payday

16^th of April is a date to make on your boxing calendars folks as HBO again serve us another great big portion of boxing tripe. WBC Welterweight champion Andre Berto, one of the much maligned “HBO boys” faces another one of “their boys” when he meets Victor Ortiz. Berto (27-0, 21KO's) has been criticised by the sports fans for being given the route of least resistance whilst being paid heavily by HBO. The opponents have been criticised for their quality and as a result fans have started to turn away from Berto. Having been a champion for well over 2 years fans have felt that Berto is still facing “development” style opponents, instead of championship level fighters. He opponents as champion so far have been:
Steve Forbes
Luiz Collazo
Juan Urango
Carlos Quintana
Freddy Hernandez

A little look at those shows that Forbes had entered 1-3 in his previous 4 and had spent much of his career fighting below Welterweight. Collazo was a genuinely good opponent, who many felt was “robbed” against Berto, so he was criticised (rightly) for not taking a rematch. Urango, like Forbes, was a smaller man, a champion at 140 who had effectively been a limited tough man at 140 and had managed to become a 2-time champion there more due to the lack in the division at the time. Quintana hadn't had a meaningful win in over 2 years with his last meaningful fight being a 1^st round KO by Paul Williams, he'd been dropped by Jesse Feliciano as well in his previous fight. Freddy Hernandez had entered with an impressive looking 29-1 record, though his key wins had, a bit like Berto, been against smaller lesser fighters such as former super featherweight title holder Mike Anchondo.With hungry unbeaten fighters out there like Kell Brook, Mike Jones, Selcuk Aydin, Yoshihiro Kamegai, Brad Solomon questions have to be asked as to why Berto isn't fighting any of them. Aydin is the mandatory challenger, Jo Jo Dan is ranked #3, Jones at #4, Solomon #6. All better challengers than anyone Berto has faced (barring Collazo).

With Victor Ortiz stood in the opposite corner fans have an easy target to give an ear ache about. Ortiz was hyped hugely as the next great fighter, the future Golden Boy of American boxing, though he's now become somewhat dirty goods. In his last 6 fights he has gone 4-1-1 and been shown up to be exciting but limited, he appears to be lacking the fighters mentality and the heart to be a warrior. Marcos Maidana arguably “broke” him, leaving him on all 4's scrabbling around like a dog wanting the referee to save him. His post fight interview said more about him than anything. He indicated he was young and his time will come, as if it was some god given right to reach the top. He scored wins against an old Nate Campbell and the “damaged” goods of what was left of Vivian Harris in what were flattering wins, though when he was put in a moderate test in Lamont Peterson he seemed to start well then fade. He was in against a fighter that couldn't hurt, and yet after the 3^rd round (a 10-7 round to Ortiz) Ortiz backed away and let Peterson off. Berto hits hard and fast and the fight will be a nightmare for Ortiz.

Ortiz will be the 3^rd fighter since Berto won a title to have fought more than half their fights below the Light Welterweight limit. It's not a wonder that Berto is around a 1/3 favourite to beat Ortiz, in fact Berto at around Evens to win by stoppage seems almost like free money. Ortiz is made for Berto, a smaller, light hitting, slower, version of himself. Ortiz may well be an 0.5” taller but will seem like the smaller man pushed around by the stronger Berto.