By Ryan Burton
BoxingScene.com and other media outlets caught up with former welterweight champion Andre Berto shortly after his friend Andre Ward dominated Alexander Brand over 12 rounds in Oakland, California.
One of the subjects that was brought up was the recent announcement of WBC/WBA/IBF/IBO middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (35-0) September 10th title defense against IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook (36-0).
Golovkin had criticized his rival Canelo Alvarez for facing welterweight Amir Khan at a catchweight of 155 while he is facing a welterweight himself at the full 160 pound middleweight weight limit.
Khan and Berto are both trained under the guidance of Virgil Hunter in the Bay Area and Berto saw first hand the training camp that Khan put in to prepare for Canelo and feels that there is a bit of double standard with Golovkin not receving the same amount of criticism that Canelo received.
"That is the boxing game man. They are going to try to dress it up anyway they can dress it up. But the truth is he probably should get some slack for fighting a guy smaller. In that division the champion should be fighting at that weight. I don't know what he is doing, what he is trying to try to prove. I mean if he knocks him out, Canelo knocked out Khan. What is that supposed to prove? That is what everybody expected you to do," said Berto who fully understands why Brook would make the leap up two weight classes.
"Right now that is the way the boxing game is and it is not too much about legacy. They are fighting these fights that aren't making sense but they are making money which is great. That is why we do it but it is getting to be all over the place right now. It is what it is."
As for if he would consider making such a big jump, Berto said anything is possible. He said that he fought in what would be considered the middleweight and super middleweight divisions as an amateur.
"The thing with me is I am naturally at a bigger weight. All through high school I played football and I was 190, 185. In the amateurs I fought at 160 and 165 pounds. I basically had to shred down to make 147. That type of weight isn't foreign to me. That is where I walk around naturally," Berto revealed.
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