Andre Berto fast becoming one of my favourite fighters!!!

Actually, the belt helps him. He is now under no obligation to fight guys like Williams or Cotto. If Margarito loses to Cotto, he won't get a high ranking by the WBC for a little while. The loser of Judah/Clottey also won't get a high ranking for a little while. So for the next year or so, Berto doesn't have to fight top 5 WW's if he doesn't want to. His situation is similar to Cotto's at 140 and 147. At 140, he had that WBO belt and didn't have to fight Hatton or Mayweather. When he first came to 147, he grabbed the vacant WBA belt and wasn't put into a position of being Mayweather or Margo's mando. He was able to get some good experience and work his way up. Berto can do the same thing. He can get 1 or 2 fights against top 10 guys before taking on a Williams or a Cotto.

 

He's good an talented, but I'm not quite sold on him yet. He's a little easy to hit for my taste. He needs to improve technically in that respect.

Remember, welterweight is boxing's most packed division, and if this kid ain't the goods, he's likely going to get his head handed to him once he steps into the top 10. Let's reserve judgment on him till he steps into that level of opposition.

 

The first time I saw him was in the Taylor Pavlik undercard and I only had one word to describe his speed, accuracy and combinations. WOW.

 

Cotto has been easy to hit throughout his career, Mosely is easy to hit, as is Judah, Margo, Paul Williams, Quintana has been knocked out twice, and Cintron has no defense. You see where I'm going this? Defense doesn't seem to be a high priority amongst the Welters, and many Welters have had a good amount of success despite defensive flaws. What Berto needs to improve is his body punching. He's too much of a head hunter. He did a good job against Rodriguez getting out of there once he got in his combos. He needs to continue this. He also needs to vary his punches more. By that, I mean he doesn't need to try to KO his opponent with every shot. Pavlik, Cotto, and Mayweather are great at placing leather on their opponent and then putting more on their shots as their opponent wears down. Berto needs to do that more often.