On November 27th, WBC Welterweight champion Andre Berto will defend his title against Freddy Hernandez. While I’m sure we all want to see Berto fight another top welterweight, Hernandez comes to fight, which means this could be a very good scrap.
Berto vs. Hernandez Preview
WBC champ Andre Berto is 26-0 with 20 knockouts. Berto is one of the most talented fighters in the sport and is on the cusp of being elite. Berto is very explosive but relies on his gifts a bit too much at times and loses focus.
Berto has made 4 defenses of his title thus far. He beat Steve Forbes, who had no chance and he had a great fight against Luis Collazo, although it was not a great performance. No question that was Berto’s toughest fight to date. Berto’s next two defenses were very impressive against Juan Urango and Carlos Quintana. Urango is one of the toughest guys in boxing and Quintana is a very good fighter with a win over Paul Williams, and he cruised past both.
Berto was scheduled to face Sugar Shane Mosley at the start of this year, but had to withdraw to go check on his family stemming from the Haiti earthquake crisis. Once everything cleared up, Berto and Mosley were in negotiations to fight, but this time talks stalled when reportedly Berto wanted a 50-50 split with Mosley. Not left with a lot of great options, Berto was going to fight his mandatory against Turkey’s Selcuk Aydin, but an agreement was reached for him step aside and in steps Freddy Hernandez.
The Mexican Hernandez is the WBC Latino welterweight champ. His record is 28-1 with 19 knockouts and 1 no contest. He has some solid wins on his resume, most notably his last outing, a big win against Mike Anchondo on Shobox, and previously a vicious knockout of DeMarcus Corley, which looks even more impressive when you consider Corley bounced back from this knockout to give Marcos Maidana a tough outing. Despite the Corley KO, Hernandez isn’t a big puncher, but has decent power and goes to the body with crisp shots. A lot of Hernandez fights are foul-filled with head-butts and cuts.
This is Hernandez’s shot at glory. This is Hernandez’s one shot. In order for Hernandez to pull the upset, the first thing he should do is use his height advantage. Hernandez at 5’11″ is three inches than the 5’8 Berto. Hernandez should look to box, because I don’t believe he can knock Berto out.
Also if Hernandez can get the fight into the later rounds, he could have a chance. Berto has fatigued in a few of his fights down the stretch. As I mentioned earlier, Hernandez’s fights are often rough, and while I’m not telling Hernandez to fight dirty, if Hernandez can get under Berto’s skin, he can get Berto to make mistakes, as we have seen emotions get the best of himin the past.
For Berto, the jury is still out on him. I consider him to be a great talent, but overrated. He’s not a pound for pounder yet. Even though he looked great at times against Quintana, he hasn’t made the adjustments as fast as I thought he would. Berto is going to try to make a statement in this fight and end it early. The problem is that Berto doesn’t care about defense when he’s in attack mode. He will take two or three to try and land a bomb. That won’t work against the best.
Berto vs. Hernandez Prediction
It’s hard to see this fight going the distance because the talent difference is too great. Berto’s foot and hand speed will be too much. As I stated earlier, Hernandez should box and use his height, but he’s more comfortable trading, which is not good because that will give a Berto chance to land and put some flashy combinations together. Hernandez could box, go to the body effectively and frustrate Berto to get to the later rounds, but a more likely scenario is that Berto stops Hernandez in the 10th round.
