At the MGM Grand, Las Vegas, Floyd Mayweather will be entering the squared circle for the last time against Andre Berto, and George Groves will be locking horns with Badou Jack in an intriguing co-feature. One of these weekend fights is easy to call, and the other not so much. And no, we’re not going to state the obvious here.
Going in, Mayweather is 48-0, 26 knockouts, and Berto 30-3, 23 knockouts. Let’s get straight to it…
Mayweather vs Berto Prediction
The Fight In a Nutshell
Floyd Mayweather, boxing’s number one P4P fighter, will facing off against heavy, heavy underdog Andre Berto. The bout will be Mayweather’s last contracted performance with Showtime, and supposedly his last ever. The keyword being ‘supposedly’. Mayweather, according to the very definition of boxing, is perhaps the complete package. If ‘hitting and not getting hit’ is the name of the game, the 38-year-old arguably is ‘boxing’. His dance partner, Andre Berto, is a 32-year-old former 147 pound champ, and an all-action, bullish fighter. So, in its simplest form, you could describe this encounter as the ‘boxing purist’ vs ‘the fighter’.
Extended Tale of the Tape
Check out our Mayweather vs Berto Extended Tale of the Tape for every fact and stat.
Keys to Victory
Mayweather
The ring general basically needs to do what he does best; dominating, controlling, getting in the more quality, smarter work.
- Set the tempo: Mayweather is no stranger to come-forward fighters – Berto needs to be treated like every other Ricky Hatton and Marcos Maidana
- Counter: discourage the shorter Berto by dominating the action center ring with counter-straight punches, and, when backed up against the ropes
- Control distance: kill Berto’s combinations and drive by making him hit clean air (this could also cause Berto’s shoulder problems to flare up)
Berto
Nobody’s giving this guy much of a shot, but let’s remember Mayweather is just a man. Berto should be Berto in this fight, piling on disciplined pressure.
- Throw bombs: it may sound futile against Mayweather, but the other alternative is a ‘boxing’ match – something Mayweather excels in
- Cut the ring off: yeah, not easy exactly – but a cornered/backed up Mayweather is better than a mobile one
- Leave it all in the ring: this will be the biggest fight of Berto’s career ever, and will have a huge impact on the remainder of it – everyone’s expecting him to lose, so now is the time to take chances
- Get inside: Mayweather is a master of distance manipulation – Berto needs to break Mayweather’s rhythm and hit elbows, chest, anything he can
Boxing Base Prediction
Andre Berto is a very likeable guy outside the ring, and it’s great to see him pumped up and confident going into this fight. The fan-friendly boxer is always in an absorbing bout, and has managed to iron out a few rough edges under Virgil Hunter’s tutelage. But Berto’s history of hard wars and life-and-death fights with men Floyd Mayweather handily whooped can only point to inevitable defeat. We could be wrong, but this is a fight where numbers and facts seem to be overwhelmingly in Mayweather’s favor.
Mayweather has a history of nullifying and taming the offense of aggressive fighters, and so there’s no reason Berto should pose a serious threat. As always, we’d like to see nothing short of a tantalizing fight, but it’s hard to predict anything short of a very convincing win for Mayweather. The P4P King is too smart, too fast, and his 3.5″ reach advantage is going to pay dividends during center ring exchanges – which is where this fight will likely take place.
Could Mayweather score his first knockout since Victor Ortiz back in 2011. That all depends on how aggressive and gung-ho Berto is, and, if Mayweather is confident enough to end things early in his last fight. Our guess is that Mayweather wouldn’t want to risk getting caught against a powerful fighter like Berto. That said, if Berto is wobbled in the early rounds, Mayweather has plenty of time to wear down and methodically stop his man.
But we have to make an objective decision; Berto will give his everything, but will partake in another Mayweather boxing clinic that should, at least, prove more competitive than Mayweather vs Guerrero.
Boxing Base Prediction: Mayweather via wide Unanimous Decision
You can catch all the action live on Showtime PPV September 12th. UK fight fans can have their fill of entertainment via Boxnation.
You’ve heard it from us, but what about you, fight fans? How do you see Mayweather vs Berto playing out?
The BoxingBase.com writing staff provide worldwide boxing news, coverage and analysis – they can be contacted via email and social media.
