Well, it’s official. For the past several weeks Floyd Mayweather Jr has been on the verge of announcing who he will fight on September 12th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, and the name that started to surface the most often as the opponent is Florida’s Andre Berto (30-3). Yesterday Mayweather and his entourage confirmed that the gig is Berto’s for what is still said to be Mayweather’s last fight. Andre Berto is a solid pro fighter. He held the WBC World Welterweight title from 2008 to 2011 through five title defenses before losing ther belt to Victor Ortiz. In his last outing this past March, he defeated Josesito Lopez for an interim piece of the WBA World title at welterweight. He comes from a fighting family, as his father “Diesel” is an MMA pioneer and all of his siblings take part in one combat sport or another. Of Haitian descent, several times in the past few years he has been affected by natural disasters on the island that have affected his family. He has paid his dues and he will come to fight. You can’t blame him for pursuing and accepting a fight that will easily be the biggest payday of his life. But you can blame Floyd. He is going to continue to tell everyone that he is “The Best Ever” and he is going to tout his perfect record and he is going to make his money. But Floyd seems to have missed some of the backlash that was evident after his last fight against Manny Pacquiao. Despite making an astronomical amount of money, no one called the fight “exciting” and there was a general sense of disappointment. Though Berto is a pro and a good fighter, there was not a lot of clamor among the general public for him to fight Berto. That the fight is at the MGM Grand again, where Mayweather has fought most of his career is probably because he can monetize the fight best in that location, but the fact is that from every aspect, Mayweather has taken zero risk as he attempts to gouge the boxing publc for one more payday. When the fight opens at the books, Mayweather is going to be an astounding favorite. He will most likely go out (49-0) and retire. If a massive money fight pops up in the future, he would return and he would likely use the same, now tired boasting about being “TBE” that we have been subject to. It would be interesting to see the general public reject this fight and not buy it. It would be kind of sad for Berto, but for Mayweather, it should be getting harder for him to keep selling the same old nonsense.
