They?re falling like flies within Team Berto.
The worst news is that Andre Berto sustained an injury to his left biceps Monday that forced the cancellation of his eagerly anticipated Feb. 11 welterweight bout in Las Vegas against Victor Ortiz.
But Berto?s promoter, Lou DiBella, also was injured Monday with a concussion. DiBella sustained the injury when he slipped in the shower and slammed his head.
?I had no equilibrium,? said DiBella, who spent a night in a New York hospital. ?I kept falling and couldn?t get up.?
Berto may yet need surgery, though that has not been determined. Promoters are hoping to reschedule the bout, a rematch of one of 2011?s most exciting matches, when Berto recovers.
DiBella said Tuesday he didn?t think Berto?s injury ?is a 6-to-8-months kind of a thing,? though he conceded he was awaiting further information from Berto?s doctors.
Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer said, ?It looks like he will require surgery,? though Berto got a second opinion Tuesday. Whether the fight will be rescheduled, he said, depends on Berto?s recovery time.
?There are injury provisions in the contract and if he would be ready to go in a reasonable time period, we would see if we could zoom in on a date in an attempt to reschedule it,? Schaefer said. ?But if the injury was more extensive than we thought, or if the surgery is more complicated and he?d be out an extended period of time, we?d have to go in a different direction.?
One potential option would be to pit Ortiz against former super lightweight champion Amir Khan. Khan had been pursuing a rematch against Lamont Peterson, but Peterson has apparently agreed with Top Rank on a two-fight deal in which he?d fight a tune-up on a card with Juan Manuel Marquez in March, then meet Marquez in a main event this summer at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Schaefer said, ?Khan-Victor would be a great fight, for sure,? but he would not speak specifically of his plans because of concerns about Top Rank CEO Bob Arum attempting to scuttle them.
?I don?t believe in discussing who I?m negotiating or who I?m talking to or who I?m not in the media because, unfortunately, the knucklehead in Las Vegas is trying to screw everything up,? Schaefer said. ?You know who I?m talking about [Arum]. I?ll refrain from making any comments until I have signed contracts and something firm to announce.?
Schaefer said he?s talking to his matchmaker, Eric Gomez, about finding spots on other Golden Boy cards for the fighters who were on the Ortiz-Berto undercard.
