Former welterweight champion Andre Berto stopped Josesito Lopez at 1:03 of round six to win the vacant WBA interim welterweight title?
Friday night at the Citizens Bank Arena in Ontario, California, former WBC welterweight champion Andre Berto (30-3, 23 KOs), from Winter Haven, Florida, stopped Josesito Lopez (33-2, 19 KOs), from Riverside, California, at 1:03 of round six to win the vacant WBA interim welterweight title.
Having lost three of his last five fights, Berto, fighting out of the blue corner in blue trunks trimmed in red and white, needed a win and he needed it bad. But Lopez, fighting out of the red corner in maroon and gold, wasn?t going down without a fight.
Round one found both fighters starting slowly. A minute passed before Lopez even threw a punch. Berto looked unusually tight in the ring. He was firing off jabs, each of which fell short of its target. When Lopez began landing punches, a right, two hooks, several body shots, an uppercut, Berto could do nothing but shake his head as if to say, ?You didn?t hurt me. I didn?t feel a thing. Is that all you got??
The round went to the more relaxed, more accurate, more composed Josesito by a score of 10-9.
Rounds two through four were no better for Berto than round one. Josesito was landing at will. Berto covered up. Berto?s speed and athleticism were impressive, as usual, but connecting with punches would have been even more impressive. Shots to the head and shots to the body had given Lopez commanding lead. Berto had his moments in the fourth when he finally let his hands go and traded punches. But after four, it looked like the fight was the Riverside Rocky?s to lose.
Berto stepped up his game in round five. He started doubling up on his jab. He had finally found the range. His right hand was beginning to land. Lopez continued to fight and fight smart, but Berto was coming on, however incrementally.
Between rounds five and six Berto?s trainer, Virgil Hunter, wasn?t happy with what he was seeing. ?I don?t care if he?s fighting back,? Hunter angrily admonished Berto. ?Impose your will on him.?
And that?s what exactly Berto did.
Thirty seconds into round six, a big right staggered Lopez who dropped to the canvas. He was up at the count of nine and looked alert?when another right put him down a second time. The referee Raul Caiz Jr. might have given Josesito another 10-count to gather his senses. Instead, he waved it off and that was that.
?I know I was in his backyard and I wanted to bring heat to him,? said Berto after the fight. ?Everybody knows Josesito is a competitor. I knew he could hurt me so I just wanted to try and break him down a little bit. I think I proved tonight that I am back in the mix.?
Andre Berto is back, in a manner of speaking. He?ll likely be welterweight champion again in no time.
Arreola Struggles
In a fight that has been mistakenly described as ?classic,? former heavyweight contender Chris Arreola (36-4, 31 KOs), from Escondido, California, struggled to win a unanimous decision over unheralded Curtis Harper (12-4, 8 KOs), from Jacksonville, Florida.
It was supposed to be a short night for Arreola. Fighting out of the blue corner in blue and white trunks, it was Arreola?s first fight since losing to Bermane Stiverne last May. Although he wasn?t in shape, inspiring wannabe comedians on Twitter to new depths of inanity, the same could be said for Harper, who was taking a humongous step up in class.
It looked like it would be over as soon as it started. Less than a minute into the fight, Arreola caught Harper with a big right that sent him to the canvas. He got unsteadily to his feet, whereupon Arreola unloaded all the big guns in his arsenal. Miraculously, Harper didn?t go down again, even though he was beaten from pillar to post in what appeared to be an unsightly, unwelcome mismatch.
But then something strange happened. Having let the kayo slip away, Arreola deflated and Harper took over the fight. The two men took turns pounding each other, displaying considerably more will than skill, but Harper took the majority of the eight rounds, as least by my reckoning.
To make matters worse, Arreola hurt his hand in the middle rounds, rendering him even less effective than he might have been had both paws been working as planned.
Harper rocked Arreola several times but the big man never went down. The, in another reversal of fortune, Harper ran out of gas in the last two rounds, letting Arreola back in the fight and enabling him to win the decision.
One judge had it 76-75, which was acceptable. Two judges had it 77-74 and 78-73, which was not.
Porterhouse Steak
In the opening bout of the televised portion of the card, former IBF welterweight champion Shawn Porter (25-1, 16 KOs), from Las Vegas by way of Akron, Ohio, stopped late replacement Erick Bon? (16-2, 8 KOs), from Manabi, Ecuador.
Fighting out of the blue corner in red and gold trunks, Porter was as athletic and sloppy as usual. He wasted no time in bringing it to his opponent, ineffectively at least at first.
Bon?, taking the fight on 24-hour notice, was surprisingly composed and confident. Unlike Porter, who was winging looping punches and barreling in, the Ecuadorean fought smart. He also fought graceful and was a joy to watch when he was upright.
But it was only a matter of time before Porter?s experience, his readiness, began to take its toll. He drew first blood in round two. An uppercut rattled Bon? in the fourth. In round five Porter dropped Bon? a right hand to the body. He beat the count, only to be greeted with a barrage of punches that put him down again. However gallant a performance, Bon? was counted out at 2:30.
Hopefully we?ve not seen the last of him.
