When it was recently announced that Andre Berto would be defending his Quartermass welterweight title against Freddy Hernandez next month on the undercard of the Juan Manuel Marquez-Michael Katsidis barnburner, it brought Berto?and his career?that much closer to Area 51. Selcuk Aydin, in the running to face Berto, was apparently whisked away by Men in Black, leaving Berto to continue his unusual, and unusually remunerative, livelihood.
The mystery here is not that Andre Berto is fighting Hernandez, but that he is being paid an outrageous sum of money for what amounts to another ?showcase? fight. Once the most overpaid headliner in boxing history, Berto?following the Bimini Road to riches?is now the most overpaid undercard fighter in history. Think about it: against Hernandez, Berto will earn what Sergio Martinez got for fighting Paul Williams on short notice and for moving up a division to face the recognized middleweight champion of the world combined!
HBO Sports president Ross Greenburg has been called many things over the years, but we can now add ?alien abductee? to the list of choice names. For years, Mr. Greenburg pompously spoke about HBO not being in the boxing business, but being in the ratings and entertainment business. Andre Berto drew fewer than 1 million live viewers for his last outing, against Carlos Quintana, and amassed 972 paying customers?for a fight put together partially as a charity event for Haitian earthquake relief. Little Green Men must have gotten to Greenburg at about
