BUT, who else IS at Berto's level of popularity that he's actually going to face? He's not going to retire, right? Mosley, Cotto, Margarito and Collazo are off the table. I mean, if he ends up fighting someone who's a worse fighter than Aydin for less money than he would have made for fighting Aydin and gets stripped of his belt for refusing to fight Aydin, then it's a duck, whether or not he would probably dominate Aydin.
DiBella wants Berto vs Kotelnik:rofl Berto is just a tough fighter with next to no ring iq and limited skillset. He telegraphs every punch from NY to LA. Aydin would give him an exciting fight at least and Dan has a solid chance to win a decision under fair terms.
Which is a big problem in the sport- too many up and coming fighters don't want to fight people less popular than they are, even if it'd be a good fight. I'd favor Berto in both of those matchups, but either man is better than fighting nobody. As for this fight, it was a blatant robbery. Hopefully it doesn't cripple Dan's career too much in the future.
DAN RAFAEL: "... HBO doesn't want Aydin, so it's not going to happen right now," he said. "There's no market for the fight and no American network is going to Turkey. Berto is not going to Turkey. Of course, we don't want Andre stripped, so we'll see what we can do make sure that doesn't happen. ...I'll call Ahmet. I have no problem with him. He's doing his job to stand up for his fighter, but my job is also to stand up for mine and to get him paid and televised. Aydin's last performance against Jo Jo Dan didn't help him........" http://espn.go.com/sports/boxing/notebook/_/id/5476945/tomasz-adamek-steps-land-giants ----------------------- STEVE KIM: "..... "....I cant blame WBC welterweight titlist Andre Berto for not wanting to go to Turkey to face Selcuk Aydin. Based on the Jo Jo Dan fight, Im not sure Sugar Ray Leonard could win a decision against any Ahmet Oner fighter in that country..." http://www.maxboxing.com/news/main-lead/mercito-gesta-the-nextmercito-gesta
Berto wouldn't have to go to Turkey. It's a purse bid situation - DiBella can just outbid Oner, or they could negotiate to not have the fight take place in Turkey. Aydin has mostly fought in Germany anyway.
Jo-jo Dan update. He refuse a fight at 142lbs against Zab Judah by saying he prefer to now fight at 147lbs and is more confortable at this weight! He should be on the Bute-Brinkley undercard with fellow Romanian Diaconu! If it's tru we will have an hell of undercard!
The same could be said of here in the States...I'd say the only neutral venues left would be in Antarctica, but those penguins seem like they could be bought quite easily for some krill and a few space heaters.
This content is protected I want to see that. Way did he said no... 5 lbs are not that many especially when u came from 140
I don't need to rewatch it, Dan won this one, but Ahmet Oner is corrupt. This is why Oner only operates in Turkey now.