Andre Berto vs. Victor Ortiz finalised – Boxing update
Andre Berto is going to defend his World Boxing Council (WBC) Welterweight title against Victor Ortiz on Saturday, 16 April, at Foxwoods Resort Casino, Mashantucket, Connecticut. The bout is scheduled for the same night when British national, Amir Khan, will be facing Paul McCloskey at M.E.N. Arena, Manchester, in the United Kingdom. The fight will be aired live on HBO SPORTS as HBO Championship Boxing. It is expected that the winner of the Welterweight championship fight will possibly get a bout against Floyd Mayweather or Manny Pacquiao.
The owner of Golden Boy Promotions and the Ortiz’s promoter, Oscar de la Hoya, turned his attention to the main event and expects good viewership. The fight has been scheduled at Foxwoods Resort Casino which has the capacity to accommodate 4,000 people at the same time. This bout is going to be the 150th fight in this Arena. De la Hoya added that Victor will be at risk in this fight but he knows Victor will be ready to fight against Berto on 16th April.
Victor Ortiz, who is very talkative by nature, commented on his upcoming fight and said, “I am going to knock him out at the MGM Grand, Foxwoods.”
It was expected that Andre Berto’s next fight would be against the number one pound-for-pound King, Manny Pacquiao, in May. Shane Mosley was also one of Berto’s possible contenders for the fight. However, the Berto-Mosley negotiations broke down and the fight was cancelled because of the massive earthquake in Haiti just before the fight in which Berto lost eight of his family members. The Pacquiao-Berto fight could not be finalised because Manny Pacquiao was interested in fighting Shane Mosley at the time.
Comparatively, Victor Ortiz has been credited as being a difficulty opponent for most other fighters. He was very progressive earlier in his career but after getting defeated by Marcos Maidana in June 2009, he has changed his style to a more defencive stance. More importantly, he has been criticised several times for his new fighting style which does not seem to work well for him.
If we compare Victor Ortiz with Berto, the former is famous for his big punches, while Berto will try to take the advantage of his fabulous hand speed.
Ortiz’s promoter, Dave Itskowitch while speaking to the press mentioned that, “Stylistically, this looks like a can’t-miss fight. What is unique about this is that there will be two young guys in their prime stepping up to fight each other.”
According to the Berto’s trainer, Tony Morgan, “We are going to have a great event on April 16. We have put in a lot of work and there is a lot more to go.”
Haitian-American professional boxer, Andre Michael Berto became WBC welterweight titlist by winning 7th round technical knockout against Miguel Angel Rodriguez at the FedEx Form, Memphis, Tennessee in 2008.
This is very important fight for Berto because a victory can open the door to new and more lucrative fights for Berto in the future. Victor on the other hand needs to make his presence felt in the boxing ring so he gets a chance at the big fights against the top fighters of today.
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