Mayweather vs. Berto: TV Schedule and Preview for Showtime All Access Episode 2

The second installment of Showtime's All Access: Mayweather vs. Berto airs Friday, September 4, giving fans yet another half-hour of insight into the makings of what is very likely to be Floyd "Money" Mayweather's final fight, against challenger Andre Berto on September 12.

The first episode of All Access saw both Mayweather and Berto engaging in the usual training montages and pre-bout bravado. There were a couple of atypical beats to the first installment.

Mayweather played pick-up basketball with Boston Celtics guard Isaiah Thomas and showed off an unorthodox running jump shot. With many deriding Money's decision to fight, the show was quick to show Mayweather put on his promoter's hat and hype his opponent, per Bad Left Hook's Scott Christ:

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The biggest question that's posed early in often in the episode is why is Floyd Mayweather choosing Andre Berto as a final opponent? Within the first few minutes Floyd says that it was clear that Manny Pacquiao couldn't bring out the best in him, and that he believes Andre Berto is the man for the job - also adding in that Berto doesn't get as much credit as he deserves.

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Berto, who's won his last two fights but is 3-3 in his last six, is hardly an inspiring choice for Mayweather's swan song.

If you need to catch up with the series before catching Episode 2, here's the premiere in full:

Here's the TV schedule for the series' second episode.

Date	Time (ET/PT)	Channel
September 4	10:35 p.m.	Showtime
September 5	2:35 p.m.	SHO Extreme
September 5	8:30 p.m.	SHO Extreme
September 6	1:35 a.m.	Showtime
September 6	3 p.m.	SHO Extreme
September 7	9:30 p.m.	SHO Extreme
September 10	1:30 a.m.	Showtime
September 11	5:15 p.m.	Showtime
September 12	9:30 a.m.	Showtime
September 12	5:45 p.m.	Showtime

Note: Per SHO.com, Episode 2 will be available On Demand on September 4.

Episode 1 didn't really touch on it, so it will be interesting to see if Mayweather's ongoing verbal sparring with MMA superstar Ronda Rousey makes its way into the storyline.

Ethan Miller/Getty Images

Showtime is likely to keep the production focused on the two boxers, but it doesn't say much for Berto's status that the big Mayweather-related headlines concern his minor feud with Rousey rather than his big final fight. 

Ever since he was announced as Mayweather's last opponent, Berto has handled the media scrutiny and criticism well, remaining focused on the task at hand. Granted, the Berto criticism is often indirect since Mayweather essentially had final cut in this production and probably could and should have gone with a younger, more interesting fighter like Amir Khan or Kell Brook.

Berto's chosen not to take criticism too personally. He reckons most other fighters would face derision trying to follow up Manny Pacquiao as a Mayweather opponent.

"You see a guy that he got finished with someone who was supposed to beat him in Pacquiao," Berto said, via Mitch Abramson of the New York Daily News. "And I believe right now you could mention anybody in this position would get a nice bit of criticism. I see it like that."

Mayweather apparently sees things the same way, although likely for different reasons than Berto, per ESPN.com's Dan Rafael:

Indeed, the Pacquiao-Mayweather fight was five years in the making, in some cases hyped as a "good vs. evil" battle and was a monumental letdown as a boxing spectacle.

Even if Mayweather had chosen a young, promising boxer for his last bout, they might've endured criticism for not being a different young, promising boxer. Few fighters these days have any real mainstream cultural cache outside of Mayweather and Pacquiao. It was always going to be tough to play this role.

Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

Berto has pointed to his track record as an exciting, relentless boxer as a reason to believe in him, per CBS New York:

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Everybody already knows that I’m the type of fighter that I’m willing to give it all once I get into that ring. Every time I step in that ring I give it all I have. You know, with injuries or not, everybody knows I’m not going to stop. Like I said, in the Karass fight I tore my shoulder in the second round, but never in my mind did I think about stopping. I fought Guerrero with both my eyes shut. I never even thought about stopping. I always feel like I can still win the fight, so if there’s one thing that people do know about me, they know that I have a heart that’s as big as it can be. 

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Hopefully, for Berto's sake, Episode 2 gives him more of an opportunity to show who he is and how he can make the fight interesting. He's highly unlikely to win, and Pacquiao is indeed a tough act to follow, perhaps even more so since the megafight was such a disappointment. 

Mayweather will more than likely display his usual brand of braggadocio, but also expect plenty of rhetoric about how fantastic Berto is and the challenge he represents. Mayweather still has one last fight to sell, a task made tougher by the response to the Pacquiao fight.