By: Ricky Ray Taylor
To say that ANDRE BERTO “dominated” his competition in the U.S. Amateur Boxing scene would be a drastic understatement. The fast hands that accompany his barbarous aggression did wonders at collapsing all opposition and basically “forced” the judges to favor him. As Bertos amateur career skyrocketed and his talents were leaving behind a wake of bullied foes, his path to superstardom seemed inevitable:
make the Olympic team, win the Gold, filter which signing bonus is most hefty & reign as Americas next Boxing SUPERSTAR.
Things didn’t quite roll so smoothly for Andre out of the gates however.
In a 2004 Olympic Trials match, Berto “threw” his opponent Juan McPherson to the ground. The back and forth tug-of-war over who was right and
who actually did the most chaotic damage did not work well in Bertos camp when McPherson was hauled out of the ring on a stretcher.
In the end, both McPherson AND Berto – Americas 2 top welterweights –
were each disqualified from Olympic competition
and essentially THRUST into the professional game.
FAST FORWARD 2009:
At 24-0 with 19 knockouts under his belt, from where I stand it seems that Berto has all of the tools necessary to cement an already established reign in Boxing’s most PACKED division. The star studded list of accomplished fighters in the Welterweight division in many ways have a spotlight shone DIRECTLY and entirely on them.
Every one of the Boxers ranked in the top ten have been featured on PPV at some point garnering them international acclaim. This feat does not come without good measure.
The overall record of the top 10 most active Welterweights (according to Boxrec.com) is 318-30-4 and get this ~ these 10 fighters have “233” knockouts between them.
Berto will most definitely have his hands full as he makes the final few steps to get to the top of this particular division. It’s a battle of attrition as the guys ahead of him are all swinging at one another and CHALLENGING anyone who even whispers any sort of provocation.
As both Berto and Collazo are each licking their wounds upon this writing,
the battles rage on:
-Antonio Margarito – the current Welterweight kingpin is scheduled to fight
Shane Mosely
-Miguel Cotto will have his hands full with sick Brit Phenom Michael Jennings
-Kermit Cintron is paired up against the crafty southpaw Sergio Martinez
Then throw Jose Luis Castillo (57-9), Shamone Alvarez (20-1) and Carlos Quintana (26-2) into the mix & it’s not very difficult to see why
THIS particular group of fighters is BOXING’s most feared division.
What’s next for Andre Berto?
With momentum in his favor from the Collazo victory, I think Berto’s handlers should shoot for the Margarito/Mosely winner in order to unify the belts under ONE Champ.
Hey, why not?
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-Ricky Ray Taylor- www.BoxerDRILLZ.com