Andre "The Beast" Berto Will Soon Be the Best Welterweight in Boxing

WBC welterweight champion Andre “The Beast” Berto defeated “El Indio” Carlos Quintana by an eighth round knockout to successfully defend his crown Saturday at the BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise, Fla.

“My knockout was pretty vicious,” said Berto, 26. “It may open up their eyes a little bit. But then again they have to look at I’ve been off for a long time so it’s only going to get better from here.”

Berto (27-0, 20 KOs), a two-time National Golden Gloves winner who captured 22 state titles in Florida, was scheduled to fight “Sugar” Shane Mosley this past January 30.

Sadly, Berto decided to withdraw 10 days before the bout was to occur after eight members of his family were killed in the devastating magnitude 7.0 earthquake that struck Haiti on January 12.

Berto was born in Miami.

Nevertheless, “The Beast” is a proud Haitian-American who represented Haiti at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece.

This past weekend’s boxing card in “The Sunshine State” was billed as “Fighting for Haiti” because part of the proceeds will benefit the Haitian earthquake relief fund.

Berto’s dominating victory over Quintana (27-2, 21 KOs) was particularly impressive because “El Indio” is a worthy adversary who defeated Paul Williams for his WBO welterweight crown in February 2008.

“Quintana is an excellent fighter,” said promoter Lou Dibella. “This fight was no walk in the park. People have wanted to see Berto with a real quality welterweight. This guy is a real quality welterweight. It was a difficult fight. Quintana is a tough fighter. Just ask Paul Williams.”

Berto now covets a matchup against an elite welterweight prizefighter like WBO champion Manny Pacquiao (51-3-2, 38 KOs), WBA champion Shane Mosley (46-5-1, 39 KOs), or former champion Floyd Mayweather, Jr. (40-0, 25 KOs).

Berto is talented enough to trump any of the aforementioned pugilists on a given evening and, considering his youthfulness, he likely will only improve at his craft.

“The Beast” has become a very popular fighter in the Boston area because Massachusetts has the third-largest Haitian population in the United States and is home to approximately 70,000 to 80,000 Haitians.

Haitians initially began to moving to the “Bay State” in the 1950s primarily due to its employment opportunities and quality education system.

The largest contingent of Haitians are located in the Boston neighborhoods of Mattapan, Dorchester, Hyde Park, and Roxbury.

Boxing is just a sport.

The recent tragedy in Haiti is significantly more important than what essentially amounts to a game played between two people in a ring with gloves.

Regardless, many individuals in and around Beantown are still grieving alongside Berto and those same people will surely be cheering for “The Beast” as he attempts to become the preeminent welterweight in the sport of boxing.