By Mark Vester

Talk about a scary night for promoter Lou DiBella. Undefeated welterweight Andre Berto (19-0, 16 KOs), regarded as a future superstar in the sport, was rocked by an uppercut and knocked down in the sixth of his ten-round bout with Cosme Rivera (30-11, 21 KOs) at the Saratoga Springs City Center in Saratoga Springs, NY.

Berto was in full control until the sixth round knockdown. He was able to recover and opened up a bad cut over Rivera's right eye in the seventh. Rivera stood his ground in the remaining rounds to test his younger opponent, but Berto did more than enough to pull out a win.

The scores were unanimous for Berto, 97-92, 98-91 and 98-91.

Berto is slated to face an even tougher opponent, David Estrada, on the undercard of Taylor-Pavlik on September 29. Estrada has to beat Luther Smith on Saturday night in Florida to keep that fight alive.

In the co-feature, DiBella's recently signed heavyweight prospect, Chazz Witherspoon (19-0, 13 knockouts) stopped Talmadge Griffis (24-7-3, 12 KOs) in the ninth round.

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