Andre Berto had an X crossed through his name from the moment Floyd Mayweather Jr announced that the former two-time world champion would be his 49th opponent on Saturday night. But Berto’s trainer said Wednesday it went deeper – that it was a fight for bragging rights between two ‘brothers’ – two proud Afro-American men.
The silence, the bathos even, had been deafening over the choice of Berto as opponent. That it was not up to the mark. Whispers on The Strip are that more people are in town for the first week of the NFL season, and the fact that UCLA play the University of Nevada on Saturday in College Football, 20,000 spectators exppected to flock to the venue.
Meanwhile, the MGM Grand was reported as slow on ticket sales for Mayweather-Berto, and pay per view forecasts are on the low side. This is The Mayweather Show, remember, the stellar boxing name who has brought in almost a billion dollars to the sport, Las Vegas and television companies from his last ten fights.
Berto having been inked as a 16-1 outsider with the bookmakers to become the first to defeat Mayweather appears to have turned the punters off.
Little wonder it has felt like a slow burn for this one. The historic fight, which takes Mayweather to a record-equalling 49-0 for undefeated world champions in the long history of the toughest sport now patronised by casinos, was in danger of being an anniversary without a fitting speech. Until yesterday, that is.
Virgil Hunter, Berto’s trainer, changed the mood and the line altogether at a press conference in the Hollywood Theater. He made it about colour, about race, about the struggle, about why and how men do, and will, and sometimes must, fight. It was dramatic, and it was deep. And the response it later drew from Mayweather was as honest as leather on flesh.
Hunter, a tall, old-school trainer, steeped in the ways and wisdoms of boxing as a life lesson, took a different tack to the critics of this fighter. His comments were aimed at those who write, not fight. Those who criticise ho have never pulled on gloves.
It was aimed at those who have written off his charge. It was a statement of intent, and a statement about two black men fighting, with bragging rights and pride in families, gyms and Afro-American boxing history.
“You are going to see a fight, dare I say it, between two ‘brothers’,” ventured Hunter.
Berto, he mused, had been written off. But so Frazier and Ali when they fought in Manila, forty years ago. It gave us ‘The Thrilla’.
“What did we get ? An epic heavyweight fight. Of course, Joe was done, but he fought over his head,” said Hunter. “Does Andre Berto have the capability of fighting over his head ? Yes, he does. Andre Berto is going to take it over his head. And that’s what the intends to do. And that’s what we have to do. With Floyd’s IQ, we’re not going to try to match him, we can’t.”
“But there’s other elements that make things successful. I just got that feeling that those who put this fight down those who did tune in, those who will believe the things being said who don’t come to the gym like the old time writers used to. If you came and looked inside, you’d see something brewing in the air.”
“It’s between them, but it’s something brewing in the air. I know it. I know people think there are different elements, but there’s some personal stuff going on here. And I’ve been around a long time. And I know when something is personal. I don’t know what it has to do with. I could take a wild guess. But you’d better tell your people to tune in for this fight. Because this is real stuff.”
“Because when you’ve got one man who want to punish you for a personal reason and youve got another man who’s saying ‘no, it ain’t gonna happen’, trust me, it’s going to be a rumble. I’ve seen Floyd’s plan B. I’ve seen him go to war. I’ve seen him get hit. And rumble with guys bigger than him. I know he got a plan B. So i’m not going to be swayed by his IQ, his skill.”
“He got hood steps in his walk, trust me. And I believe that is what we are going to do – we are going to leave the MGM. We are going to be here in body, but this fight gonna be way deep down, where a lot of people are very afraid to go, and that is the hoods of the United States. Watch what I say…”
Hunter believes beating Mayweather is about bragging rights. About the street.
Yet Mayweather, ever the psychologist, offered a compelling reply, his delivery slow and rasping, as if he might have been having voice classes with someone akin to the late Marlon Brando.
It was an incredible putdown, coming at the end of what sounded like a speech for a swan song. It was aimed at Berto.
He firstly thanked adviser Al Haymon. “I couldn’t have a better guy for the job.”
Then he turned his attention to Berto. And it was in response to Hunter.
“I know everything that goes on. What my opponent is doing, what he is doing, what moves that he is making. I know about Berto. He went to the boxing gym last night. His weight was low. So he didn’t train.” Noise and laughter.
“Every move you make I know,” added the unbeaten 12-time world champion in five weight divisions.
“That’s why this is called ‘chess’, not chequers. I’ll see you guys Saturday.”
Mayweather has had boxing stitched up for a while. And in those few lines, explains exactly why. Mayweather’s influence has made him boxing’s Godfather, a man whose circle of power now allows him to influence and control conditions in his favour. It has come over a long period, and as a result of his brilliance in the ring. But his influence is everywhere. In Nevada, on US television. In the ring. And even in his opponents’ camps. It is that simple. There’s bragging rights, right there.
