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Andre Berto (24-0, 19 KO's, 145.75 pounds) (c) vs. Juan Urango (21-1-1, 16 KO's, 146.5 pounds)

 

Berto won this title when it was vacant by defeating Miki Rodriguez via technical knockout at 2:13 of round 7 on June 21, 2008 at the FedEx Forum in Memphis, Tennessee. A full recap of that match can be found here: http://www.number1contender.net/the-latest/2008/9/28/recap-of-andre-bertos-title-win.html Berto is making his third defense of this title. It had been held previously by Floyd Mayweather, Jr., who vacated the belt to "retire".

 

Berto is the son of pro-wrestler Dieuseul Berto and had a strong amateur boxing background befitting that heritage. Andre's first boxing trainer was his father and Dieuseul trained his son like a young pro-wrestler. That meant a heavy focus on conditioning and discipline. When other young boxers were working in the gym on correct punching technique, Andre was doing thousands of squats and push-ups. It gave him a stamina and mental toughness that very few in the amateur and eventually the pro ranks could match. When Andre showed up to his first amateur match, he showed up with custom ring gear. Andre came out wearing a shirt and matching trunks that had the flag and colors of Haiti (where his parents were born) on them. Andre was a 2-time National Golden Gloves champion and was fresh of winning the bronze medal at 2003 Amateur World Championships when it came time for the native Floridian to qualify for the United States Olympic team heading to Athens, he hit a snag. Berto suffered a controversial disqualification during qualifying. That forced Berto to go to the 2004 Olympics representing Haiti in the 152-pound division, even though he had yet to visit the island nation when he was named one of their Olympians.

 

The native Floridian is very lightly tested for a champion making his third title defense. Berto has only faced 1 boxer ranked by The Ring at 147 pounds in his career. That was in Berto's last match. Berto barely escaped that match with his title. (More on that below.) This defense is considered to be against a significantly weaker opponent then Berto faced his last time in the ring. Berto's people say this will be his last relatively easy match, though. They are targeting Shane Mosley, The Ring's top ranked boxer at 147 pounds after this match.

 

Berto's last match was an exciting 12-round unanimous decision victory over Luis Collazo on January 17, 2009 at the Beau Rivage Casino in Biloxi, Mississippi, in what will likely end up as one of the top 5 matches of the year. The referee, Keith Hughes, made a horrific call, deducting Berto a point for holding in round 4. This forced Berto to alter the way he boxed the match to avoid losing more points and allowed Collazo to go up big on the scorecards early in the match. However, Berto was able to use his superior conditioning to out-last Collazo and win the final 2 rounds of the match. That made Berto the winner by 1-point on 2 of the judges' scorecards. Had Berto not had the conditioning to win both rounds, the point deduction would have cost the Floridian his title. A full recap of that match can be found here: http://www.number1contender.net/the-latest/2009/5/28/recap-of-andre-berto-vs-luis-collazo.html

 

Berto is The Ring's number 6 contender to their vacant championship at 147 pounds.

 

Urango turned pro at 21-years old with a round 2 knockout of Efrain Sotomayor on April 30, 2002 in Monteria, Colombia.

 

There is a new trend popping up in boxing of Colombian boxers that have astonishing knockout percentages in Colombia and rather average knockout rates outside of Colombia. Urango has good punching power, but appears to be a textbook case of this new trend. In Colombia, Urango is 8-0 with 8 knockouts. Urango scored all of those knockouts in 3 rounds or less. Outside of Colombia, Urango has 8 knockouts in 15 matches, which is a fairly average knockout rate.

 

Urango's last match was a 12-round unanimous decision victory over Herman Ngoudjo on January 30, 2009 at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec. Urango dominated the Montreal resident in a match that was unable to be worked by horrific Montreal based referee Marlon B. Wright. Wright is the referee brought in to help Montreal based boxers win major matches. (The best example of Wright's bias can be found here:  http://www.number1contender.net/the-latest/2009/1/30/recap-of-lucian-bute-vs-librado-andrade.html) The Colombian scored 2 knockdowns in round 3. Urango had Ngoudjo hurt and appeared poised to score the knockout in round 4, but the referee stopped the action to warn Urango for a phantom low blow. This allowed Ngoudjo time to recover. This match became more of a farce in round 10. Ngoudjo told Wright that he was hit low and the referee warned Urango. This was bizarre considering Urango was not hit low and the referee never saw the punch that he was warning the boxer for throwing. At this point, Wright was acting as the puppet of the boxer from Montreal. Round 10 then became more laughable as the timekeeper completely botched the timing of the round. Due to gross incompetence round 10 ended up being 5:10 long. Still, Urango overcame the odds and won a vacant 140-pound title in that match. Urango has boxed the entirety of his career at 140 pounds prior to this match. The belt Urango won in the match with Ngoudjo, which is not on the line in this match, had been made available when Paulie Malignaggi vacated it to face Ricky Hatton for The Ring Championship at 140 pounds. A full recap of Urango-Ngoudjo can be found here: http://www.number1contender.net/the-latest/2009/5/27/recap-of-juan-urango-vs-herman-ngoudjo.html

 

Urango is The Ring's number 6 contender at 140 pounds to their champion in the weight class, Manny Pacquiao.

 

At 25-years-old, Berto is 3 years younger then the 28-year-old Urango. Berto has the height advantage standing 5' 8" tall, while Urango stands 5' 8" tall. The native Floridian has the reach advantage with a 22" arm length, compared to the 21.5" arm length of Urango. Berto will be the much heavier boxer in the ring having unofficially rehydrated after the weigh-ins to 155 pounds. Meanwhile, Urango has only unofficially rehydrated to 150 pounds. (That is not a warning sign here, because Urango is normally that size.) Both boxers are naturally right-handed, but only Berto will box out of the orthodox stance. Urango will box out of the southpaw stance.

 

The judges keeping official score of this match from ringside are from Puerto Rico, Florida and Mexico. The referee is Tommy Kimmons.

 

Berto uses his huge speed advantage to win round 1 on Lederman and my scorecard, 10-9. The native Floridian lands several good right-hands to win round 2 on Lederman and my scorecard, 10-9. Urango appears to have no ability to negate Berto's tremendous speed advantage. With 1:00 to go in round 3, Urango goes down to the mat. The referee is ruling it a slip. That appears to be the correct call. Urango may have tripped over Berto's left foot backing away from the native Floridian. This type of slip is common when a boxer using the orthodox stance faces a boxer using the southpaw stance. Urango is dusted off, and the action resumes with 55 seconds to go in the round. Berto wins round 3, 10-9, and leads on my scorecard after 3 rounds, 30-27. Through 3 rounds, Berto has landed 50 of the 174 total punches he has thrown, for a 29% total connect percentage. Through 3 rounds, Urango has only landed 22 of the 140 total punches he has thrown, for a poor 16% total connect percentage. Lederman scores round 3 for Berto, 10-9, and is ahead on the Lederman scorecard after 3 rounds, 30-27.

 

Round 4 features some entertaining exchanges, that Berto gets the best of to win the round, 10-9. Berto takes round 4 on the Lederman scorecard, 10-9. In round 5, this match is becoming somewhat sloppy. Even in a sloppy match, Berto is too fast for Urango and wins round 5, 10-9. Lederman scores round 5 for Berto, 10-9. Berto lands several big left hands to win round 6 on Lederman and my scorecard, 10-9. After 6 rounds, Berto leads on both Lederman and my scorecard, 60-54. Urango is fast, but Berto is ridiculously fast. Berto is showcasing more speed in this match than has been featured in some of the recent Sonic the Hedgehog games.

 

Berto lands more clean punches to win round 7, 10-9. The native Floridian takes round 7 on Lederman's scorecard, 10-9. Round 8 is the same as the previous 7, meaning Berto takes it on Lederman and my scorecard, 10-9. Berto wins a boring round 9, 10-9. After 9 rounds, Berto leads on my scorecard, 90-81. The native Floridian takes round 9 on Lederman's scorecard, 10-9, and is ahead in the match after 9 rounds on the Lederman scorecard, 90-81.

 

Round 10 is more of the same and Berto wins it on Lederman and my scorecard, 10-9. Through 10 rounds, Berto has landed 194 of the 558 total punches he has thrown, for a 35% total connect percentage. Through 10 rounds, Urango has landed 144 of the 603 total punches he has thrown, for a 24% total connect percentage. After round 10, Riddick Bowe is shown sitting in the crowd. Astonishingly, the camera catches the former heavyweight champion eating. Berto picks up the pace and wins round 11 solidly, 10-9. Lederman somehow scores round 11 for Urango, 10-9. Urango landed a lot of solid body punches to win round 12, 10-9. However, Berto wins the match on my scorecard, 119-109. Lederman also scores round 12 for Urango, 10-9, and has Berto winning the match by the score of 118-110.

 

The official decision courtesy of the "Classy" Jimmy Lennon, Jr. is that the judges have scored the match: 117-111, 118-110, 118-110, all for the winner by unanimous decision, still undefeated and still the WBC Welterweight Champion of the World, Andre Berto. The win moves Berto to 25-0 with 19 wins coming by way of knockout.

 

The final punchstats have Berto landing 243 of the 655 total punches he threw, for a 37% total connect percentage. Berto landed 174 of the 262 power punches he threw, for an astounding 66% power connect percentage. Urango landed 180 of the 742 total punches he threw, for a 24% total connect percentage. The Colombian landed 171 of the 515 power punches he threw, for a 33% power connect percentage.

 

Berto said in his post match interview that he followed his game-plan well in this match. The plan was to circle into Urango's left hand, away from Urango's powerful lead right hand. That is the opposite of what a boxer is traditionally supposed to do against a boxer in the southpaw stance. Additionally, Berto said he did a good job boxing on the outside and did not get lured into a slugfest, like what happened in his last match with Collazo. Berto said he does not have a targeted opponent outside of the major names in the division. He concluded by saying that he is still developing and will be getting a lot better over the coming years.

 

Berto was completely dominant in this win. He is probably the fastest boxer at 147 pounds. That does not mean he is ready to face the division's elite. All of the boxers Berto wants to face are ranked in The Ring's top ten pound-for-pound list. Unfortunately, Berto does not offer a large enough payday to entice boxing's elite to face him at this time. That is fine, because Berto is still a bit too green to be facing that level of opposition. Berto did far too much unnecessary holding in this match and is still a bit inconsistent in the ring. However, he may have the most potential of anyone currently in the weight class. There are only 2 active boxers outside the elite ranks and ranked above Berto on The Ring's top 10 list at 147 pounds, Carlos Quintana and Joshua Clottey. Quintana just withdrew from a scheduled match on June 5 with an injury making him unavailable to face Berto. Clottey will be facing Miguel Cotto on June 13. Clottey had to vacate a 147-pound belt to face Cotto. (That is the belt that Cintron is the number 1 contender for at this time.) Assuming Clottey loses to Cotto, and makes it through the match relatively healthy, he would make the best next opponent for Berto. That is hardly a given, though. That could force Berto to rematch Collazo. It could be a very entertaining match, but should be very unappealing to Berto's people.

 

Urango was never competitive in this match. The positives Urango can take away from this match is that he now knows to stay at 140 pounds and avoid boxers that are insanely fast. Urango could have been much more active in the clinch, but it would probably not have made much of a difference. The Colombian was beaten when the contract was signed. At 140 pounds Urango would be a very interesting match up for both Ricardo Torres and Kendall Holt. Holt is the more marketable opponent, so that is likely Urango's next opponent.

 

 

 

This match was too one-sided to be very entertaining. Overall, this show is an easy skip.