January 30th was supposed to be a big night for WBC welterweight champion Andre Berto. The Haitian-American was scheduled to face off with fellow titlist Shane Mosley at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas in a ?make or break? contest that would have either elevated or derailed Berto?s budding career. It was an intriguing matchup of youth vs. speed with serious power coming from both sides but unfortunately it wasn?t meant to be.
In mid-January it was announced that Berto would be removing himself from the contest due to the personal toll that had been inflicted upon him from the devastating earthquake that struck his native Haiti on January 12th. With several close friends and family members in peril, Berto?s mindset wasn?t in the right place for such a contest and he respectfully had to step away. Mosley would later set his sights on Floyd Mayweather Jr., who he agreed to fight this coming May 1st at the MGM Grand, and Berto seemed to dip under the radar a bit.
In the time following Berto?s removal from the Mosley contest, nearly all of the attention in the Welterweight class was shifted to WBO champion Manny Pacquiao?s March 13th defense against Joshua Clottey as well as the Mayweather-Mosley scuffle. Berto suddenly found himself out of the picture and it is surprising that his April 10th return to the ring against former champion Carlos Quintana has received little attention.
Taking place in Sunrise, Florida at the spacious Bank Atlantic Center, Berto vs. Quintana is a fight that could pleasantly surprise people for a multitude of reasons. In Berto you have a young and ambitious champion with serious talent and power to boot. In Quintana he will be facing a crafty and live veteran who has been in with some of the best 147 pound fighters in recent years.
Quintana is also no stranger to making the most of his underdog status, as he has notable upsets over Joel Julio and Paul Williams, who were both undefeated before their rude awakenings with the Puerto Rican southpaw in June of 2006 and February of 2008. Quintana was blasted by Williams in one round in their rematch four months later and has been craving another opportunity since then. A date with Berto is the exact kind of matchup that he needs to again establish himself as a serious force in the division.
If there was ever a man who could teach Berto a thing or two about breaking Quintana down it would be former champion Miguel Cotto, who battled ‘El Indio’ at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City in December of 2006. In a textbook performance, Cotto overcame Quintana’s awkward style with a patient attack that saw him turn much of his focus to working over Quintana’s body. The ending result was a 5th round technical knockout for the Caguas native. Berto is a physically strong fighter himself who has shown a solid body attack and would be well advised to take notice of Cotto’s prior work when assessing Quintana as his personal foe.
Another interesting note to this fight is the fact that Berto?s hardest fight of his young career happened to be against another southpaw in January of 2009 when he locked horns with Brooklyn?s Luis Collazo in Biloxi, Mississippi. The bout was one of the year?s best fights as the two fighters took turns rocking each other throughout the night in a nip and tuck affair. Berto would end up winning a close decision that many felt should have gone the other way.
Setbacks in the sport of boxing are far from a rarity and it is up to the fighter at hand as to how well they can deal with them. While Andre Berto?s 2010 campaign certainly got off to a heartbreaking start, he has quietly stayed in the shadows and will be attempting to climb back into the spotlight as the year progresses. It?s not the easiest of roads for a young champion to follow but it all begins this Saturday night for young Andre.
