WBC World welterweight and WBA Super World welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr., has finally officially announced the opponent for his September 12th fight. The date was never in doubt but rumours and speculation persisted on just who would be opponent number 49.
Back in May, at the MGM Grand, Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, “Money” beat long-time rival Manny Pacquiao via a unanimous decision; in the most lucrative boxing event of all-time. Since the win, he had one fight left on his Showtime contract and was only one fight away from equaling Rocky Marciano’s 49-0 record.
Amir Khan was once seen as a possibility, but has once again been left on the sidelines. Mayweather himself said he was looking at Andre Berto or Karim Mayfield.
Today Floyd (48-0, 26 KOs) announced to the 11 million followers, of his official Facebook page that, “September 12, 2015 for number 49. Come be part of the history. Book your hotel and flights now”. With the message was the poster (that you can see above).
It had widely been thought that this fight would be on the mainstream free-to-air CBS (in the US) but it’s advertised as PPV. The venue, as always, is the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Mayweather’s last eleven contests have been at the same venue.
Florida’s Andre Berto (30-3, 23 KOs), held the WBC World welterweight title from 2008 to 2011. He beat the likes of Luis Collazo, Juan Urango and Carlos Quintana in title defenses but lost the belt to Victor Ortiz. In 2012, he failed in an attempt to regain the belt when dropping a unanimous decision to Robert Guerrero. His only three fights since have seen him stopped by Jesus Soto Karass but defeat Steve Upsher Chambers and Josesito Lopez. The win over Lopez came in march this year, with Lopez hitting the deck twice and stopped in the sixth.
Berto is an orthodox fighter, with good hand speed. Not the biggest welterweight and he has a tendency to get hit a lot, despite relying on his reflexes. Even at only 31 years of age, his best fighting days are behind him.
If this is Floyd’s final fight (I don’t believe it will be), then there are plenty of better opponents out there including Gennady Golovkin, Keith Thurman and Amir Khan to name a few. Have no doubt, that while Berto does have skills he has no chance of winning this fight. Floyd is simply too good for a faded former champion.
