I'm gonna piss people off but here's the word on Berto...

[Diane]

On the broader point,I agree.Truck loads of potential,hand speed,athletisism but the one huge glaring bull waltzing in the china shop for me is,
He has faced next to no top tier adversity and zero legit top ten fighters on his way up to the Title and has yet to answer some serious questions now amongst the championship ranks that are better tackeled in the early developing stage's (can he fight backing up when they wont fall down) ?Sorry people but Cosme Rivera and David Estrada are world's apart from todays top welters.Again....he has some serious potential but he walked into his Title a little too conveniatly for me. He better buckle up Imo!

I agree!!

I'm not sold on Berto yet, and even if he beats Forbes, my opinion won't change until he fights a more elite fighter, and beats him. I too think he got that belt too easily.

[PRIDE OF BOSTON]

On the broader point,I agree.Truck loads of potential,hand speed,athletisism but the one huge glaring bull waltzing in the china shop for me is,
He has faced next to no top tier adversity and zero legit top ten fighters on his way up to the Title and has yet to answer some serious questions now amongst the championship ranks that are better tackeled in the early developing stage's (can he fight backing up when they wont fall down) ?Sorry people but Cosme Rivera and David Estrada are world's apart from todays top welters.Again....he has some serious potential but he walked into his Title a little too conveniatly for me. He better buckle up Imo!

I agree!!

I'm not sold on Berto yet, and even if he beats Forbes, my opinion won't change until he fights a more elite fighter, and beats him. I too think he got that belt too easily.

True that, First Lady!

He fought who for that belt... a pulse. Forbes is a career sparring partner, nothing more. I like forbes and wish it weren't the case but, alas...

[Spicoli]

Cool dude JT is going to come in here and start throwing Furnitue around

I honestly think he has a good chance of stopping Forbes,I like Forbes,class act and decent fighter..........at Lightweight.Imo, The Oscar fight was a showcase type fight for Oscar and The Berto fight will be his "coming out party" against a past Champion,Lampley.....get your pom-poms ready

[Diane]

Cool dude JT is going to come in here and start throwing Furnitue around

When I started reading this thread, and was posting, I thought about JT too.

[rjj tszyu]

I said he had the potential to be as good! That doesn't mean I think he will be as good as Floyd. If Roger or Floyd Sr trained him now for a couple of years I could see him beating the rest of the division. His defence alone has improved ten fold over the last 5 fights or so and his speed and skill have always been evident. One thing I would already give him over Floyd is punch power!

[El Kabong]

I said he had the potential to be as good! That doesn't mean I think he will be as good as Floyd. If Roger or Floyd Sr trained him now for a couple of years I could see him beating the rest of the division. His defence alone has improved ten fold over the last 5 fights or so and his speed and skill have always been evident. One thing I would already give him over Floyd is punch power!

....it's easy to look good vs the guys Berto has fought

[rjj tszyu]

I said he had the potential to be as good! That doesn't mean I think he will be as good as Floyd. If Roger or Floyd Sr trained him now for a couple of years I could see him beating the rest of the division. His defence alone has improved ten fold over the last 5 fights or so and his speed and skill have always been evident. One thing I would already give him over Floyd is punch power!

....it's easy to look good vs the guys Berto has fought

Yeah but nobody fights elite fighters straight away. It's something that you build up to. Look at Ricky Hatton. He had 38 fights before he faced an elite opponent.

I like what I've seen of Berto so far and I honestly do think he is bursting with potential and if that potential is handled correctly then I think he can become a superstar of boxing.

[ICB]

Jeff Lacy was always one dimensional and he struggled against decent opposition like Sheika, Vanderpool, even before the Calzaghe fight. There were big cracks in his game........

Where as Andre Berto is a much more well rouned fighter he has a good jab and can box at mid range, and he can also come forward and put good effective pressure on with lightning quick combinations............

He may be somewhat overrated but theres no way he ends up like Lacy, i think he can hang with most of the top Welterweights, even if he loses he will give a good account of himself...........

I just think he needs to tighten up his defense a little and not get wild which he has done quite alot. But one problel i do see is that i don't think he is really going to get any better, he hasn't showed me any real improvements like Mayweather, Cotto, did in there early fights............

They say when a fighter wins a world title it automatically makes them a 25 percent better fighter or something like that, lets see if he can show us anything new against Forbes who is a decent test although not the fight i wanted to see. I want to see Collazo vs Berto now if Berto could win that fight that would tell me for certain he is elite.

[rjj tszyu]

Jeff Lacy was always one dimensional and he struggled against decent opposition like Sheika, Vanderpool, even before the Calzaghe fight. There were big cracks in his game........

Where as Andre Berto is a much more well rouned fighter he has a good jab and can box at mid range, and he can also come forward and put good effective pressure on with lightning quick combinations............

He may be somewhat overrated but theres no way he ends up like Lacy, i think he can hang with most of the top Welterweights, even if he loses he will give a good account of himself...........

I just think he needs to tighten up his defense a little and not get wild which he has done quite alot. But one problel i do see is that i don't think he is really going to get any better, he hasn't showed me any real improvements like Mayweather, Cotto, did in there early fights............

They say when a fighter wins a world title it automatically makes them a 25 percent better fighter or something like that, lets see if he can show us anything new against Forbes who is a decent test although not the fight i wanted to see. I want to see Collazo vs Berto now if Berto could win that fight that would tell me for certain he is elite.

Well Collazo is his mandatory defence providing both win next week

[Pugilistic]

I totally agree.

He is young talented fighter but his level of competition even in his title figtht have been poor.

Forbes will pose him problems with his boxing skills but is too small.

Lets see what happens to Berto if he fights Margarito or Williams, etc.

[El Kabong]

....let's see him fight a puncher or better yet a boxer who can take his punch a la Forbes whom is a tiny guy but if he has enough of a workrate he's going to really frustrate Berto

[PRIDE OF BOSTON]

Cool dude JT is going to come in here and start throwing Furnitue around

I honestly think he has a good chance of stopping Forbes,I like Forbes,class act and decent fighter..........at Lightweight.Imo, The Oscar fight was a showcase type fight for Oscar and The Berto fight will be his "coming out party" against a past Champion,Lampley.....get your pom-poms ready

Nah, JT's been measured of late and for the most part we agree...

JT knows where I stand with this kid.

Here it is...

He has immense potential.

He has great speed...

He has good power...

But he's faced no one.



I WANT him to prove me wrong or he will just be another Lacy... Floundering(now THAT is gonna make JT throw some furniture around)

[bcollins]

Cool dude JT is going to come in here and start throwing Furnitue around

I honestly think he has a good chance of stopping Forbes,I like Forbes,class act and decent fighter..........at Lightweight.Imo, The Oscar fight was a showcase type fight for Oscar and The Berto fight will be his "coming out party" against a past Champion,Lampley.....get your pom-poms ready

Nah, JT's been measured of late and for the most part we agree...

JT knows where I stand with this kid.

Here it is...

He has immense potential.

He has great speed...

He has good power...

But he's faced no one.



I WANT him to prove me wrong or he will just be another Lacy... Floundering(now THAT is gonna make JT throw some furniture around)

The great thing is that, with a belt, he'll probably get a chance to prove you wrong fairly soon. Even the gatekeepers at WW are dangerous

[PRIDE OF BOSTON]

Cool dude JT is going to come in here and start throwing Furnitue around

I honestly think he has a good chance of stopping Forbes,I like Forbes,class act and decent fighter..........at Lightweight.Imo, The Oscar fight was a showcase type fight for Oscar and The Berto fight will be his "coming out party" against a past Champion,Lampley.....get your pom-poms ready

Nah, JT's been measured of late and for the most part we agree...

JT knows where I stand with this kid.

Here it is...

He has immense potential.

He has great speed...

He has good power...

But he's faced no one.



I WANT him to prove me wrong or he will just be another Lacy... Floundering(now THAT is gonna make JT throw some furniture around)

The great thing is that, with a belt, he'll probably get a chance to prove you wrong fairly soon. Even the gatekeepers at WW are dangerous

I know that's right!

I hope it's right...

I hope he does.

That D's been getting better but I hope he doesn't hit the Lacy wall...

Where potential and loses meet.

[Taeth]

Nah, JT's been measured of late and for the most part we agree...

JT knows where I stand with this kid.

Here it is...

He has immense potential.

He has great speed...

He has good power...

But he's faced no one.



I WANT him to prove me wrong or he will just be another Lacy... Floundering(now THAT is gonna make JT throw some furniture around)

The great thing is that, with a belt, he'll probably get a chance to prove you wrong fairly soon. Even the gatekeepers at WW are dangerous

I know that's right!

I hope it's right...

I hope he does.

That D's been getting better but I hope he doesn't hit the Lacy wall...

Where potential and loses meet.

He is totally different then Lacy, When Lacy was meeting the same caliber fighters that Berto is now, he was having tough grueling fights, where his superior athleticism was winning out for him, but he was getting hit a lot, he was in control, but not dominating fights. Berto has been dominating every fight he has been in, he hasn't even had to switch gears or really put forth his best effort. We haven't even seen half the stuff he is capable off, he has the best handspeed at WW, he has great footspeed that he doens't always use, and he can throw combinations very, very well. Just give him time to calm down a little in the ring.