Andre Berto sees Manny Pacquiao in his future
Andre Berto thinks Manny Pacquiao has the “skills to pay the bills,” and that's what counts.
In a recent FanHouse article that was equal parts praise and challenge, the WBC welterweight champion responded to Bernard Hopkins’s recent observation that Pacquiao has yet to face a quality black fighter, and suggested that he’ll happily fill
that void.
Pacquiao came under scrutiny from Hopkins after beating the beefier Antonio Margarito on November 13. While Hopkins was impressed with the victory, he pointed out that Pacquiao seems to have all but avoided black fighters with a certain “slick style.”
But Berto took the conversion elsewhere, saying, “At the end of the day, you're going to have to have the skills to pay the bills, and he [Pacquiao] has shown that he has that.
“And you have to have the skills to go in there and put it on them. At the end of the day, it doesn't matter whether you're white, black, Chinese...you have to have those skills to make it happen in the ring.”
Berto will put his own skills on display this weekend at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, where he takes on opponent Freddy Hernandez, a relative unknown in the boxing community.
Berto hopes to “take care of business” and launch into a much larger fight after Hernandez, possibly even with Pacquiao himself.
“I'm looking at Manny Pacquiao, guys like Floyd Mayweather, and Shane Mosley [to fight next], you know, they're the guys that I've always looked up to since my days as an amateur,” Berto explained.
“It's just going to be a place for me to get in there and to state my presence against those future Hall of Famers. But, like I said, I have to handle my business on Saturday night.”
Berto and Hernandez will clash on the undercard of the Juan Manuel Marquez-Michael Katsidis matchup. The fight will be broadcast on HBO.
Tags: