Berto needs to take the step to the top, and soon.

[Taeth]

I don't see when Berto's shown this power that some people talk about. When was that? He landed pretty much at will last time out and it took him what, 8 rounds? Did he show it against Rivera? Forbes? Estrada?

He looks to have solid power, enough to gain respect but he's not some one punch guy, he's never shown that against halfway decent competition.

His toughness is still a bit untested, well see that when he faces good competition.

And his defense is nowhere near elite level. He's good enough to win without being a Mayweather/Hopkins/Toney/Wright type defensive fighter but he's not and almost certainly will never be on that level.

He's very talented. There are still a lot of question marks though. It is time for him to step up.

Where did he show power? The fact that he almost knocked out all of his opponents? I agree he isn't a THomas Hearns type puncher, but I see the same power that guys like Miguel Cotto have. Its not quite at Cintron's level, but its still extremely hard punches.
These are all tough guys, Oscar didn't come close to knocking out Forbes either, but IMO Berto had a better showing against Forbes because he was able to land cleaner punches then Oscar was, and he got hit way less by Forbes.

Against Estrada? The guy who went 10 rounds with Cintron and went 12 with Mosley? Berto knocked him out in the 11th. He almost KO'ed Rivera a few times who is another tough guy, and he has ko'ed basically everybody else except two guys earlier in his career, how can you not see his power. Lennox Lewis, and Emanuel Steward have both said he has good power, even though I think Emanuel Steward is underrating his power by saying he doesn't punch as hard as Leonard, I guarantee he does.

Also about his defense Forbes landed 17% of his punches? That's way better then Oscar. When Berto has been actually focusing on not getting hit he doesn't get hit. He has great defense that is almost on the elite level, and will be in the next year. I think he is as hard to hit as James Toney, the only problem is he likes to stand in the pocket a little too much, and everybody including Mayweather can get hit in the pocket. I think compubox was out to lunch when Berto fought Estrada, because Estrada was landing a few times, but not very often at all.

I don't see the point in him if he won't fight the Margarito's, Cotto's, etc's of the sport. He needs to fight them, if he can't beat them he will never be an ATG, I think he should fight Margarito in the next 2 years, I believe he will be ready, he has a great defense when he wants to, he has great speed both of hand, and of foot(when he actually chooses to use it), and he has great stamina.

He has a solid punch. He has not shown big time power, I don't know what there is to argue about that, he just hasn't shown it. Maybe we don't have the same idea on what constitutes big time power.

Forbes is not a great example I'll give you that, I didn't really expect him to stop Forbes but I don't see any one fight where he's looked like that hard of a puncher. He's a flashy puncher, everything looks impressive but at the same time people seem to be able to take his punch for the most part.

And defensively I guess there's really no point in arguing if you think he's on or near the level of Toney defensively, to say I don't agree with that is the understatement of the year.

He's clearly talented, but I think you're overrating his power and defense. Well see what happens when he steps up.

He doesn't have Thomas Hearns like power, but its more along the lines of Cotto or p4p Roy Jones Jr. He's stopped 19 out of 23 of his opponents. The only guy who went the distance against him who had been stopped before was Rivera against Judah, but Berto was tight in that fight, and didn't start landing effectively until later on, and he had Rivera hurt several times. Against Miguel Rodriguez, a guy who had never been down before, Berto hurt him several times with individual punches, and then used one punch type power in the 6th with a right uppercut that would have rocked almost anyone. The same punch he used to floor and finish Estrada(who it took Cintron 10 rounds to finish, and Mosley went the distance with him). I don't see how you can't see his power.

Also his defense, what does he do that you don't like? He hardly gets hit, the only times he really gets hit consistently is when he doesn't use his speed effectively, but watch Floyd against Augustus, Against Sanders, against Corley, against a few opponents, Floyd is the best defensive fighter of our generation, but when he went for the knock out against tough guys he got hit a lot more then when he knew he needed to box, the same thing applies to Berto.

Regardless I could still potentially see Margarito or Cotto landing enough on Berto, but in Cotto's case would it be before Berto landed more punches on him?