American Andre Berto retained his WBC welterweight title with a stoppage of Carlos Quintana on Saturday, boosting his chances of a bout against the premier fighters in the weight class.
Berto stopped Puerto Rico’s Quintana in the eighth round for his fifth successful defense of the WBC crown.
Berto (26-0, 20 KOs) did heavy damage from the third round through the eighth. He finally stopped Quintana, a former WBO champion, with a succession of hard rights before the referee ended the bout at the 2:16 mark.
Now, the question is how long it will take before Berto, 26, gets a shot at the high-profile welterweights such as WBO champion Manny Pacquiao, WBA champion Shane Mosley or former champion Floyd Mayweather.
“My knockout was pretty vicious,” Berto said. “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 get better from here.”
Part of the proceeds of the fight will benefit the Haitian earthquake relief fund. Berto’s parents were born in Haiti.
After the Jan. 12 earthquake, Berto canceled his Jan. 30 fight against Shane Mosley and went to Haiti to aid the relief effort.
Part of his job there was holding down semi-conscious people while they had limbs amputated because there wasn’t enough anaesthetic to go around.
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