Andre Berto Demands Testing Before Facing Victor Ortiz in Rematch

Andre Berto (28-1, 22 KOs) vs. "Vicious" Victor Ortiz (29-3-2, 22 KOs) was the fight of the year caliber fight that had the boxing world buzzing this past April and made Floyd Mayweather (42-0, 26 KOs) take notice and face the winner.

In the aftermath of a loss to Mayweather, Ortiz is seeking a rematch with Berto. Berto's promoter Lou DiBella is fine with a rematch but has one pre-fight requirement according to Boxing Scene.

DiBella had this to say:

"

I would not make this fight without Olympic style drug testing. Yeah we want the fight, and we'd demand the same drug testing that just happened in the Mayweather fight.

"

Mayweather has used random blood and urine testing in his past two fights, one against Ortiz this past September 17 and one against "Sugar" Shane Mosley (46-7-1, 39 KOs) May 1 of last year.

My Two Cents

Berto had previously made accusations on Twitter that Ortiz may have been using performance-enhancing drugs to obtain victory in their welterweight world championship battle.

Now that Berto has bounced back with a victory over Jan Zaveck (31-2, 18 KOs) to net him the IBF world championship, he feels he is back in the driver's seat.

The problem is that he isn't quite in the driver's seat again until he avenges his only loss to Ortiz. Ortiz's reputation has taken a hit thanks to his headbutting antics during the Mayweather fight.

So both fighters technically need each other. There just aren't many other fights out there that can catapult either fighter back to the top.

Unfortunately for Ortiz, his loss to Mayweather has hurt his image far more than Berto's loss to Ortiz hurt the Haitian-American's. In fact, Berto may have gained quite a few more fans in his loss to Ortiz than during any of his wins.

Avoiding drug tests are not a particularly good thing in these times of great performance-enhancing drug paranoia. Ortiz should most definitely take the test and beat Berto to solidify his place as one of the best young fighters today.

Both Berto and Ortiz would benefit, no matter who wins. As long as they can bring the action and intensity of their first match, their fans will be happy and their popularity will only continue to grow.