Andre Berto, flying under the radar in the welterweight division despite his World Boxing Council belt, hopes to raise his profile with his first title defense against Steve Forbes today.
Berto, a Florida-based Haitian-American who captured the title vacated by Floyd Mayweather Jr with a seventh-round technical knockout of Miguel Angel Rodriguez in June, brings an undefeated record of 22-0, with 19 knockouts, to the fight at the Home Depot Center in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson.
Even so, World Boxing Association champ Antonio Margarito of Mexico, International Boxing Federation champ Joshua Clottey and former champion Miguel Cotto of Puerto Rico still draw more attention in the division.
The title fight is co-feature on the Home Depot card with Shane Mosley’s non-title super welterweight bout against Nicaragua’s Ricardo Mayorga.
“I’m just glad to be in the position I’m in now,” Berto said this week. “I watched Mosley and Mayorga on TV growing up. I saw them win their first titles when I was an amateur. Now I’m up at the podium with them.”
Forbes said the younger champion had plenty of talent, but added that he comes in with plenty of motivation thanks to his desire to add a 147-pound (66.7kg) title to a resume that has already included a 130-pound crown.
While the majority of Berto’s victories have come inside the distance, the 31-year-old Forbes has never been knocked out.
In contrast to the respectful prefight exchanges between Berto and Forbes, Mosley and, characteristically, Mayorga, were flinging verbal barbs at each other this week.
“I already retired Fernando Vargas, an LA boxing icon,” Mayorga, 35, said on Wednesday as the fighters met the press at a Los Angeles hotel. “I plan to retire another on Saturday night. Mosley needs to be at home doing the dishes for his wife.”
“Mayorga tells a lot of jokes and stories, but he always comes up short in his fights,” Mosley, 37, shot back.
“Yes, he won against Fernando Vargas in November, but I knocked Vargas out. That’s going to be the difference Saturday night,” Mosley said.
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