An exciting warrior that isn't talked about much. Good career. Classic fight vs Ortiz. I loved his fights.
I remember him and Shane Mosley were scheduled to fight back in 2010 but he pulled out because of the earthquake in Haiti. Would've been interesting to see.
I remember that. Would have been a good one. Berto was in his prime and Shane was close to shot for me. But Berto goes to war and against Shane, it would have been tough.
Mosley had just obliterated Margarito. He was clearly old, but still had a lot of fight in him. Let´s not forget that he also nearly dropped Floyd.
Mosley would've absolutely wrecked Berto, even then. And I like Berto as a fighter. He had some serious fundamental deficiencies, but also some very nice moves and his one-punch hand speed was surprising and packed a good wallop.
I'm not so sure about wrecked at that point. Mosley started to look like crap since the Mayorga fight. That fight was much tougher than I expected for him. The Margo fight was his last hurrah, but I think it was a combination of things. I don't think Marg was all there that night (not talking about bricks ). I don't rule out the possibility of Shane wrecking him because, like I said, Shane generally did well vs people that come to fight.
Like I said, Mosley was old and it showed. I think that if Margarito had better defense, Mosley would have shut down mentally again. The fire was long gone at that point. But since Mosley was able to land at will, he managed to go all out.
I don't disagree about Margarito, going from memory of what I found likely at the time, but the thing is, despite speed of single punches, it's that Berto seems slow of foot and never had great defensive reaction time either. Also, that he wasn't great in combinations consistently, and that despite having good power, power doesn't match up well with any Mosley vulnerabilities and single punches from Berto, while strong, were probably not going to do that much to the Mosley chin. He wasn't smart enough to land the dissuading shots that would make Mosley tentative. Since Mosley wasn't even slow by then, if Berto was putting them together, I'm assuming he, being easier to hurt, is going to get the worst of it, because Shane is also fast of hand, has much faster and more coordinated feet, puts his punches together more consistently, harder and better, & is more durable, even then, being both tougher and technically better. I'm just not sure how Berto isn't going to get sh!tcanned. Mayorga is different because he is still crazily durable, larger and more physically powerful and far more awkward than Berto. I may have been mildly surprised by Mosley having to work on him at the time, but not all that much and not really in a way I think is indicative of points on Berto's behalf, if that makes sense.
I saw this interview with him a while back, very different persona outside the ring, laid back and funny. He had nice insight into (and impression of!) Mayweather too, I would say it's worth a watch: This content is protected
He was a big part of the most fun night of boxing I've ever been to in his fight with Soto Karass. Granted he lost and that shoulder injury he suffered likely damped the rest of his career but it was still an amazing fight to watch.
Used to be a big fan. Saw him fight Juan Urango live. I also was at his fight against Carlos Quintana and the weigh-in for that fight.