Welterweight champion Andre Berto, just a couple of weeks away from his toughest career bout against Sugar Shane Mosley, suddenly has bigger worries.
Berto, who grew up in Florida but is Haitian, was on tweeting Tuesday night about the tragic earthquake in that country.
Here’s a report by the AP’s Jonathan Katz:
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (Jan. 12) — The strongest earthquake in more than 200 years rocked Haiti on Tuesday, collapsing a hospital where people screamed for help and heavily damaging the National Palace, U.N. peacekeeper headquarters and other buildings. U.S. officials reported bodies in the streets and an aid official described “total disaster and chaos.”
United Nations officials said a large number of U.N. personnel were unaccounted for.
Communications were widely disrupted, making it impossible to get a full picture of damage as powerful aftershocks shook a desperately poor country where many buildings are flimsy. Electricity was out in some places.
AP Photo
Karel Zelenka, a Catholic Relief Services representative in Port-au-Prince, told U.S. colleagues before phone service failed that “there must be thousands of people dead,” according to a spokeswoman for the aid group, Sara Fajardo.
“He reported that it was just total disaster and chaos, that there were clouds of dust surrounding Port-au-Prince,” Fajardo said from the group’s offices in Maryland.
On his Twitter account, Berto naturally expressed concern about family and friends in Haiti who he and his family are unable to reach by any means.
Berto fights Mosley Jan. 30 at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas (HBO).
I’m sure all boxing fans join me in wishing that Berto gets only good news about his loved ones from Haiti.
As if fighting a superstar like Mosley wasn’t enough of a burden for a rising, young star…
Prayers for all concerned as President Obama has quickly pledged major aid.
