5 Fights for Andre Berto, Including Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao

On Saturday, September 3rd, Andre Berto turned in an impressive performance against fellow welterweight top ten contender, Jan Zaveck, TKOing the Slovenian after five rounds and capturing the IBF welterweight strap in the process. 

Zaveck was a game challenger. He stayed in the pocket under daunting pressure and landed successfully whenever an opening presented itself to him.

However, Berto's hand and foot speed and all-around explosiveness were too much. By the end of five rounds, both of Zaveck's eyes were swollen; his right was nearly shut, badly cut at the brow, and he could no longer see out of it.

Now 28-1 with 21 knockouts, the Haitian native is clearly among the top 147 pound fighters in the world. His only career loss came via unanimous decision last April against Victor Ortiz, in a thrilling war that will likely garner "Fight of the Year" honors, and which already propelled Ortiz into his September showdown with Floyd Mayweather, Jr. Berto knocked Ortiz down twice during the fight.

At 27 years of age, Berto is just entering what should be his prime at the top of his game. He looks like a guy who can be counted upon to deliver exciting, main event caliber fights for years to come. What follows are five fights I'd love to see him take in the next year or two.  

Mike Jones

Fighting out of Philadelphia, "Machine Gun" Mike Jones is an undefeated welterweight contender. The Ring currently has him ranked seven at 147. 

Jones is a physical specimen. At six feet tall, he has good length for a welterweight but he is also thickly muscled. It's not difficult to imagine him playing point guard or shortstop.

So, he is an excellent athlete, and has solid skills, too. In this video he demonstrates an excellent jab and lateral movement, good changing-of-levels and control of range.

He fought on the under card of the Pacquiao-Margarito fight and was something less than impressive in beating Jesus Soto Karass by majority decision (I scored it even, but was not paying close enough attention to stand by my card). He was more impressive in their rematch (shown here), taking a fairly one-sided unanimous decision.

How likely is it to happen?

Pretty likely, I think. Mike Jones has climbed about as far up the food chain as he is going to get in a division like welterweight without stepping up and taking on an elite fighter who will test him.

Minus Zaveck, the only two fighters ranked between Berto and Jones are Vyacheslav Senchenko and Rafal Jackiewicz, from the Ukraine and Poland, respectively. Seriously, I had to hold an issue of The Ring up to a lamp with one hand and type onto my laptop with the other in order to get those two guys' names correctly spelled.

So a victory over either of them will not necessarily raise Jones' profile appreciably. And a victory over any top ten ranked European fighter is never a sure thing, anyway, whether your typical Bleacher Report writer/reader has heard of them or not. 

But Jones is fighting now at the level where there pretty much are no sure things. So he might as well put himself to the test against Berto, who is already quite popular with many American boxing fans.

Amir Khan

Sooner or later Amir Khan is going to move up to welterweight. And when he does, he's going to be looking to take on the biggest names he can, as soon as he can. He has spoken openly about wanting Floyd Mayweather, Jr.; in the meantime, perhaps he would settle for Andre Berto?

This fight would be a great next fight for Berto. I have to think he would be easier to get on the dotted line than Tim Bradley has proven to be. Aside from locking the 140 pound division down against Bradley, I think this would probably be the best possible fight available for Khan. 

How likely is it to happen? 

Khan has a date already set for December 12th, with the opponent "to be announced." I suspect that might be too soon for Berto to fight again. Even though he had a relatively easy night against Zaveck, he will need time to recover from training camp alone.

Also, the bout is listed on Boxrec.com as for Khan's alphabet soup 140-pound trinkets. So that rules Berto out.  

But again, without getting his coveted shot at Mayweather, or his long-anticipated showdown with Bradley, I'm not sure who else available could be more attractive for Khan. Perhaps a return bout with Marcos Maidana (who, incidentally, would also be a great fight for Berto)?

I think this fight has a reasonable chance of occurring sometime in the next year or two. 

Victor Ortiz

Andre Berto and Victor Ortiz fought less than six months ago but it is already a timeless classic, the sort of memory fight fans savor. One of those fights where fans remember exactly where they watched it, who else was there, what else happened that day in history, what the weather was like, what song they heard on the radio before they turned off the car and went inside to watch the fight.

It earned Victor Ortiz Berto's WBC welterweight title, but it also earned him something much more important: The right to be somebody who gets to fight Floyd Mayweather, Jr.

But it was a case where Berto's stock went up in defeat. This is even more the case now that he has followed that hotly contested defeat by easily dispatching the highly-ranked Zaveck.

How likely is it to happen? 

Oh, this fight is going to happen. Maybe not next year, but it is going to happen.

For all the crap we put up with as fans: The bogus decisions, the inept, even crooked reffing; for all that, great rivalries like Ortiz and Berto are destined to be are one of those great rewards that keep us coming back.

Imagine the unlikely, that Ortiz upsets Mayweather. Then further the thought experiment and imagine he knocks off Pacman. If we should ever arrive at that state of reality, be assured, people are going to want to pay big money to see Ortiz go back and fight the guy who knocked him down twice in what was the greatest fight many of them ever saw.  

Or just imagine the likely, that Ortiz loses a fairly one-sided decision to Mayweather. Well, he's still made a great showing on the 24/7 reality t.v. show.  

Ortiz and Berto both seem like extremely likable young fighters, the sort of guys fans love to cheer for. In my mind it seems like destiny that we will all get to cheer like mad for them as they beat the crap out of each other at least one more time. 

Manny Pacquiao

Manny Pacquiao is the current pound-for-pound number one fighter in the world, and among the most popular athletes on the planet. Every top-ranked fighter between 135 and 160 pounds publicly lobbies, or at least secretly hopes, for a crack at the Filipino Congressman and the big time payday that comes with it.

How likely is it to happen?

Probably not too likely. Pacquiao is officially ranked number one at welterweight, with Ortiz number two and Berto three. If Pacquiao were very concerned with locking down The Ring welterweight title, the fight would make a lot of sense. 

But I somehow don't think The Ring belt is much of a priority to Manny, considering he is instead fighting Juan Manuel Marquez (who The Ring still recognizes as champion at lightweight) this fall. 

If Manny were looking at staying in the game for a few more years, I can see scenarios where this match up ends up making sense. But if he's as serious as he says he is about his political career, it's hard to imagine how he could stay active that long.  

Floyd Mayweather, Jr.

Due to his prolonged inactivity, Floyd Mayweather, Jr. is currently not ranked by The Ring. But in the minds of many fans, boxing writers and promoters, Pretty Boy Floyd remains the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world, until proven otherwise in the ring. 

For this reason, he remains an extremely attractive opponent for any fighter within two weight classes of him. Later this month he will take on Berto's great nemesis, Victor Ortiz.

How likely is it to happen?

It could happen. Assuming Mayweather wins at least a fairly one-sided decision against Ortiz, if the long awaited fight with Pacquiao still can't be made, a fight with Berto could make a lot of sense. If the Pacquiao fight can't be made, then Mayweather could continue to claim that he's fighting the best available fighters in his division.

Still, if he beats Ortiz too easily, fans are not going to be too excited to see him fight a guy that Ortiz beat.

One also has to wonder, as with Pacquiao, how much further into the future Mayweather will want to continue fighting. But if he stays around for a few more years, than Berto might end up being an inevitable.