Andre Berto's Dilemma, Shane Mosley Won't Fight Him

Reminiscent of a fighter adrift on a raft in the middle the pacific ocean, Andre Berto sits alone amidst the other hungry sharks of the 147 pound welterweight division.  

And—although he isn't exactly starving to death yet—if Shane Mosley doesn't give him the decent payday he deserves, the No.5 ranked welterweight from Winter Haven, Florida, may soon have to settle for table scraps.

Those scraps could come in the form of Isaac Hlatshwayo, who was victorious over Delvin Rodriguez last Friday night in Connecticut.

Hlatshwayo, with his split decision win over Rodriguez won a worthless 147 lb. alphabet title.

So, now, according to recent rumors, talks are underway for a fight between the two alphabet title holders, Hlatshwayo and Berto.

Berto who is (25-0, 19 KO), would prefer to face Mosley for a better challenge and an even better payday; Berto however, is being constantly ducked by the No 1 contender.

The Floridian fighter nearly got his wish this January when Antonio Margarito was at the negotiating table, but Margarito-Mosley eventually came to fruition, and Berto was left to face his toughest opponent so far, in Luis Collazo.

That fight was then followed up with what arguably may have been his worst performance so far, a snooze-fest win over Juan Urango.

What we have now, with the Berto-Hlatshwayo match-up, is another potentially boring fight, which nobody besides us hard-core-boxing fanatics, will even care to blink an eye about.

Hlatshwayo (29-1-1, 10 KO) has zero name recognition to the armchair boxing fans of the world, and—in my estimation at least—has only two chances of beating the lightning-fast-power-punching Berto; slim, and none.

The one fight in which most fans would most clamor for would be a Mosley - Berto match,..but here's the problem..

Mosley has, quite possibly, only two fights left in his career and, even though neither man has expressed the slightest interest in fighting Sugar Shane—he more than likely will continue to hound Pacquaio or Mayweather, until one gives in.

The other factor is DiBella entertainment, Berto's promoters, who have been notoriously and visibly overprotecting their fighter.

In an article, which I wrote last month, I reiterated what the alphabet sanctioning body—who Berto is a titleholder of—had stated, which was that Berto was being forced to rematch Collazo.

However, it seems that Berto has no desire to risk his chances again in the ring with the man who many feel had beat him the first time.

Especially, when he can sit on his lonely perch and wait patiently until Mosley gets hungry enough, or desperate enough, to give him the fight which he so very much desires.

And also, Collazo, for his part, is rumored to be pricing himself completely out of the possible rematch with Berto.

Maybe its just me, but in my opinion, somebody should do something for Berto, and also, for once, give the fans the fight they want to see.

And that person, should definitely be Mosley.

How he (Sugar Shane) feels in regards to Pacquiao ignoring him, is understandably, exactly how Berto has possibly been feeling toward Mosley lately.

So, what is the Sugar-man's problem here?

Is he worried that Berto may beat him up, and henceforth lose his glorious opportunity to go ride off into the sunset of his career with a final super-fight-double-digit million dollar payday?

Or, is he obsessed with his own fame, and lost in a world of delusion where fighting the young contender would be beneath him?

My guess, for what its worth, is that he is suffering from Bernard Hopkins syndrome.

It's highly possible that these two great fighters—who have even greater egos—have spent so much time together of late, that their mutual feelings of grandiosity are rubbing off on each other.

Hopkins has publicly stated that he will not step inside the ring for anything less than ten million dollars.

And, if this is also the idea that Mosley is subscribing to, then its highly possible that  these two fighters will never again see action inside the squared circle.

Except, of course, for the super-fights that exist in their ego driven fantasy's.

"Some day they're gonna write a Blues song for fighters. It'll just be for Slow guitar, soft trumpet and a bell." -Sonny Liston, 1962

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