Why is Andre Berto SO underrated?

The "who has he fought" arguement is kind of ridiculous. I believe it is one of the more innacurate judgement criteria of any boxer. It's not the be all end all criterion. Think about some of the fights where the same could have been asked: Mayweather/Genaro Hernandez, Pacquiao/Barrera, Pavlik/Taylor 1, Ponce De Leon/Juan Manuel Lopez. In my opinion it's direct factors like defense, speed, talent, strength, aggressiveness, & stamina that matter. Berto scores surprisingly highly on each and every one of those factors, his weakest perhaps being defense, but all one would have to do is watch the Steve Forbes fight to see that he's improved at this too. And when I say "weakest" I just mean that he excels in the other categories while defense is seemingly still improveable. The main reason he's an exciting fighter though is that he's jabbing far more effectively now, and he has a strong stiff jab, not a feeler "Roy Jones" type jab. His jabs set up his combination punches much better now, and is exactly what he'll need against a defensive fighter like Collazo. Berto's defense is also interesting to me. Most people don't notice that it seems very similar to Mayweather's defense. They have the EXACT same placement of their arms over their chests while quickly moving their heads away, dodging and blocking punches.

All in all, I like watching his fights. He hasn't had a boring one yet, and they've gotten better as he's improved his skillset. There are very few boxers that can move their hands fast enough to throw that right hook/right uppercut combination as fast he does, and he was doing it multiple times back to back, rocking Forbes head. I mean really, ask yourself if you've seen any boxer throw that particular combination with one hand that speed. It's a very uncommon type of athleticism.

Another reason I find him very intriguing is that I give him a significant advantage over Cotto. I've watched Cotto ever since he was junior welterweight and while he's a great fighter, I don't see him winning against Berto. He has no physical advantages over Berto, and Berto is stronger than him IMO. Berto is definitely faster and more explosive than him, and they both attack the body viciously. Cotto doesn't have 1 punch KO power. Berto does. Most people just say Cotto would KO him without examining how they actually matchup. Margarito and Williams and fighters of that ilk are almost certainly his biggest challenges, but a fighter like Cotto would be a gift to him in my opinion because he's a name fighter that Berto could probably beat in the type of way that would give him recognition. I definitely have him over Mosley. Cintron is one of the longer taller WW's, and he has one punch KO power, so he might present some problems, but I don't think he's fast enough for Berto. If I was placing bets, I'd have him over Cintron by stoppage, simply because that's the only way I'd see the fight going if either one of them won. The real fight that I'd love to see is against Clottey. I feel that that fight will be made soon. A legitimate welterweight, and one that is a more accurate guage for Berto than Collazo in my opinion.

Honestly, you put that very well. That's why I want to see him fight better fighters, and hope he gets his shot.

LMAO