With Shane Mosely Spoken For, Who Should Andre Berto Fight Next?

When 2010 began, it looked like this may be Andre Berto’s breakout year. With two quality wins in 2009 under his belt and a late January date to face Shane Mosley, the pieces all seemed to be in place for the speedy 26-year old welterweight to make a real push toward stardom.

The tragedy in Haiti on January 12 changed all of that in a hurry. Though he was born in Miami, Berto is of Haitian descent, and it was no surprise when he dropped out of the Mosley fight due to concerns over the well-being of his friends and family in the aftermath of the earthquake.

Mosley had to move on, so he lined up a May 1 showdown with Floyd Mayweather. Ideally, Berto would love to snag the winner of that bout, but there’s no guarantee he’ll be able to do so.

Berto showed two very different sides of himself in his last two fights, brawling his way to victory over Luis Collazo and taking a much more tactical approach to his win against Juan Urango. He’s talented and charismatic, but not a big enough name at this point to carry a big event by himself.

With those things in mind, it’s only natural to speculate, as he himself did a few days ago on his Twitter feed , about his next potential opponent. Berto didn’t offer many hints as to anyone he may have his eye on, except to say he prefers to face a “real welterweight.”

Assuming he doesn’t want to stay inactive until the fall, here are a few possibilities for men he could face in the meantime:

Miguel Cotto

Other than the trio of Mayweather, Mosley, and Manny Pacquiao, Cotto is the most recognizable name in the division. He already has a June date at Madison Square Garden lined up, which would appear to fit Berto’s timetable quite nicely.

Andre wasn’t available until a few weeks ago, so he wasn’t on Cotto’s radar. There’s still plenty of reason for Miguel not to consider him now, as he may not want such a difficult test after getting thoroughly outclassed by Pacquiao last November.

Cotto-Berto would be a terrific fight, but my guess is Miguel pursues his plans to take on super welterweight titleholder Yuri Foreman.

Joshua Clottey

Yes, Clottey has a huge fight of his own coming up against Pacquiao in March. Win or lose, though, he makes a lot of sense as a foe for Berto.

The Grand Master isn’t well known to the general public, but he’s highly respected among boxing fans for his toughness, heart, and underrated boxing skills. He’d bring tons of credibility and almost certainly be considered Berto’s stiffest test to date.

Unless he takes tons of damage fighting Pacquiao—which is definitely a possibility—Clottey would be able to fight again sometime during the summer. That could suit Berto just fine.

Antonio Margarito

This was actually proposed by one of Berto’s Twitter followers, to which he responded “I would love that.” Margarito is set to return to action on the Pacquiao-Clottey undercard following his well-publicized suspension.

Tony would provide name recognition, even if it were of the infamous variety. He’s also a former welterweight titleholder whom Berto could use as a measuring stick since Mosley looked so impressive defeating him last year.

If Margarito is indeed allowed to compete in March, he shouldn’t have too much trouble with Carson Jones unless he’s completely let his game go to waste. Seeing him fight again is bound to leave a bad taste in the minds of many, but Berto could decide it’s worth fighting him for career advancement purposes.

Zab Judah

Berto seemed to put the kibosh on Judah when his name was mentioned online. It’s true that Zab has fallen a long way over the last four years, almost to the point where he’s become a gatekeeper.

Still, if better options fall through and Berto needs a "stay busy" fight, he could do worse than this. Properly motivated, Judah is still dangerous, and his name should still sell a few tickets.

A better question would be why Zab would want to fight Andre, since I wouldn’t like his chances if he did.

Nick Tylwalk is the editor and co-founder of BoxingWatchers.com . Follow him on Twitter .