Jermain Taylor or Andre Berto? They both have a lot of hype behind them and potential (Taylor in the past tense). However, they both obviously have glarring stylistic problems and seem to have hit a ceiling, but Berto, much like Taylor, will certainly get good paydays and eventual big name opponents to test him. Will he be more successful than Taylor was on the elite level? Or will his shortcomings see him go down a similar path?
Not exactly, but there are high calibur opponents that Berto could end up in the ring with at 147: Mayweather Pacquiao Mosley Cotto Margarito Paul Williams (if he can still make 147) I'm not saying he'll beat any of them though. I can honestly see him getting feed some name recognition guys he can look good against (Morales, Alfonso Gomez, Nate Campbell) while the big fish clear the waters.
Steep hill for Berto to climb. Taylor was THE undisputed champ at 160 and beat one of the the greatest middleweights ever - TWICE. Mayweather may let Berto sniff his ass a bit, but not much more.
The talent level at 147 is really deep. I mean really deep. Mayweather, Pacquiao, Mosley, P. Williams (if he can still make 147) Margarito Cotto Those 6 fighters are guys who I think, at this time, should be favored over Berto. His has a tough road ahead and no aging champion within his sights.
It's evident that 147 now is much deeper than 160 was when Taylor was coming up and reigning. Taylor had to outsource his defences (Ouma, Spinks, Wright) from 154, while Berto has a shitload of comp within his weightclass. Once Taylor did fight the better guys his size (Pavlik, Abraham, Froch) he got sparked. Will the same or similar happen to Berto? He is toiling in the B level of 147 right now and doesn't seem ready for the A level guys yet, but he will probably have to fight them sooner rather than later.