HBO reveals Andre Berto won’t be riding the easy train anymore
HBO has sent welterweight titlist Andre Berto a two-part message: no more easy pay-days, and time to buck up, kid.
In an interview with boxing expert Dan Rafael, HBO Sports President Ross Greenburg responded to allegations that his company had morphed Berto into a spoiled poster boy only interested in fighting mediocre competition for outrageous sums of money (on HBO).
Greenburg said that Berto will fight a top-ranked fighter in 2011, or he won't be sponsored by the company.
The story goes like this. Berto turned pro in 2004, and was quickly picked up by HBO as an upcoming prospect. He beat Miguel “Miki” Rodriguez for the vacant WBC welterweight title, and a few other contenders. A fight with Shane Mosley was abandoned after
an earthquake in Haiti affected members of Berto’s family and required his immediate attention. The Mosley fight wasn’t taken up when the situation eased.
Part of the reason for that is because Berto, who has yet to fight anybody remotely in Mosley’s league, felt he was entitled to a 50-50 purse split with Mosley.
Berto said: “Shane Mosley, of course he fought Floyd, his stock dropped [in defeat]. Me coming off a win [against Carlos Quintana], I think it’s only right that we go 50-50. I don’t really think most people even want to see him fight now. I think it’s totally
right to do it that way.”
Then it was revealed that HBO reportedly threw $1.25 million at Berto’s latest bout, against a relatively unknown Freddy Hernandez. That’s the same amount it threw at his last bout against Quintana. As promoters for ESPN’s Friday Night Fights generally
get $30,000 per bout, the mathematics implied that HBO valued Berto-Hernandez as 40 times more valuable (financially) than an ESPN fight night bout, or on par with 120 of them.
No wonder Berto became uninterested in normal pay-days and suddenly considered himself worth Mosley. The word inflation comes to mind.
But today Greenburg told Rafael: “"The bottom line is Andre Berto will be in a big fight in early 2011, or he won't be on HBO. Whenever he fights next, if it's not against a big-name opponent, then you won't see him. He knows that, his management [Al Haymon]
knows that. And his promoter [Lou Dibella] knows that. Believe it or not, they feel the same way. We've been very patient. Now it's time. If it doesn't happen, so be it."
Yippee.
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