Who's this Andre Berto guy everyone keeps talking about??

Lately I've been reading a lot of stuff suggesting that Andre Berto is an avoided fighter, that he can't catch a break, etc. That he should fight Pacquiao, Mayweather, or even Marquez (the dude weighs like 140 on fight night wtf?). And so on.

So I was like damn, maybe this guy's some kind of killer and I've been sleeping on him. I mean, I saw the Urango and Collazo fights but they were far from impressive (****ing disgusting jab omg FIX IT!!!).

Then I did some research and found out Berto was a world-level amateur and all that fun stuff. Looking at his record, he's only had 3 higher-level fights (all of which he has been the A-side fighter--these were fights he was supposed to win, against smaller opponents), hasn't really been impressive in any of them, and looks like P. Diddy.

Here's a young, undefeated guy with a world title and a lot of potential with a ton of other guys AT HIS LEVEL to fight, and yet every time we talk about who Floyd and Manny should fight, his name is on the list. Why?? I'm sure he has all the confidence in the world that he could win, and win or lose he'd make big money and gain exposure, but come on. The guy could take a career-altering beating, and that's without even giving the fans a good fight or a favorable impression of himself.

Take a look at welterweight and the surrounding divisions. Tell me that there aren't some good, even fights here for Berto if he's willing to pay his dues and work his way up like fighters are supposed to do. Let me see him beat a few legitimate A-level fighters or prospects/contenders before he tries to cash in.

Ortiz
Kotelnik
Maidana
Alexander
Bradley
Khan
Cotto
Mosley
Clottey
Bradley
Cintron
Martirosyan
Alvarez
Angulo

P.S.
Here's a little article (poorly written but I like the concept behind it) regarding this issue.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/559354-the-problem-with-young-boxers-calling-out-pacquiao

 

I would consider Bradley, Cotto, and Khan as A-Level. Depends on your view I guess. Guys like Floyd, Manny, Sergio, and JMM are the top of the class (A+++ I guess?), but you have to fight someone else to get there.

I'd say there's more than a few A- fighters on that list, definitely not many lower than a B+....which is about where I rate Berto.

 

He does get ridiculously overpaid for a guy at that level. Making close to a million per tomato can while Angulo only got offered 750,000 to fight THE LINEAL MIDDLEWEIGHT CHAMP, who, incidentally, made that amount in his own shot at the title.

And here's Berto making bank fighting nobody and calling out the top two guys in boxing...