The next fight for Floyd Mayweather Jr. in his ongoing quest to make insane amounts of money while staying undefeated will be Andre Berto, who is the current Interim WBA Welterweight champion.
The fight will take place on September 12 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, and will be for the WBA (Super), WBC & The Ring Welterweight titles. Mayweather is coming in with a record of 48-0 including 26 knockouts, although he has won only one of his last nine fights by knockout, and that was against Ortiz, seven fights and four years ago.
So who is Andre Berto? He’s a 31-year old from Modesto, California, with a record of 31-3, including 24 knockout wins. He won his first 27 fights, which included becoming the WBC Welterweight champion, until he lost to Victor Ortiz (someone who Mayweather beat controversially), followed by two more losses in the next three fights to Robert Guerrero (another fighter Mayweather had no problem beating) and then to Jesus Soto Karass, followed by wins against Steve Upsher Chambers and Joselito Lopez.
In short? Quite a comedown for Mayweather in terms of opponent quality, not to mention the amount of money and interest this fight will generate following his win over Manny Pacquiao. But after setting every possible financial record in the sport in that fight, anything was going to be a huge let down in pretty much every aspect, but Berto is certainly not someone who is “worthy” of the opportunity. Not after the last four years.
Mayweather did have options of fighting better opponents, more likely to at least make it difficult for him. Keith Thurman, Amir Khan, who has been waiting forever to get his shot at Mayweather, and also Shawn Porter. But Mayweather holds the sport and the division by the balls. It might generate the usual chants about him cherry picking an opponent and avoiding those who can actually beat him, but after he ended the debate about his rivalry with Pacquiao, he really doesn’t feel like proving anything to anyone.