Andre Berto has done absolutely nothing to deserve a shot at Floyd Mayweather. I believe we can all agree on that. There were several more deserving opponents, but the facts are, this is who Mayweather picked, so no need to keep whining over who he didn’t pick.
Now that we got that out-of-the-way, you maybe shocked by this, but Mayweather-Berto will be a far more entertaining fight than Mayweather-Pacquiao for the follow reasons.
1- No media circus
One of the things that sucked the joy out of Mayweather-Pacquiao was that by the time fight week rolled around there was more drama about what was happening outside the ring with the media, than inside the ring with the fighters.
When would tickets go on sale, what was the PPV cost, who was on the undercard, who was being denied credentials, should the fight be boycotted because of Mayweather’s past history, Pacquiao’s shoulder debacle and just in general a lot of complaining about everything.
In my six years of covering boxing events this was by far my least favorite event to cover and that is sad because it was biggest boxing events I covered.
2- Berto win, lose or draw normally puts on a good show
A lot of boxers are like this, when their skills are exposed, they might lose but it will always be in entertaining fashion. Adrien Broner for example, he loses, but they are normally pretty good fights. Berto is the same, he has a lot of heart, so he normally goes down guns blazing.
3- Berto has no defense, so you will see more offense from Mayweather
Mayweather’s ring intelligence is his biggest asset, especially at his age. The more dangerous the opponent, the more calculating he becomes in the ring, which means a lot of pot shotting and getting out of dodge. That more limited the opponent, the more offensive Mayweather becomes. Berto is terrible defensively, he doesn’t know how to use head movement and his footwork is worse than Matthew Stafford. You will probably see a lot more offense that usual from Mayweather because the target will be so easy to hit.
4- Vegas will be more fun and cheaper
There was a MILLION people in Vegas for Mayweather-Pacquiao. Hotel prices was through the roof, I saw grown men paying $500-1000 to get into clubs just to get a glimpse of a celebrity. Fights were breaking out all over the place, relationships were being ruined, people were getting robbed and it was just a mess.
If you want to see Mayweather live before he retires, this would be a good fight to do it. Hotel prices will be much lower, fight tickets will be reasonable, much easier to hit the club and the fight itself will probably be better.
So, while the fight is mismatch and not a fight that anyone wanted to see, after it is over I believe the crowd and the people who buy the PPV will have gotten more of their money no pun intended than they did with Mayweather-Pacquiao.