Andre Berto Gives His Take on Floyd Mayweather Jr.

By Lem Satterfield

Unbeaten Floyd Mayweather "talks crazy," said unbeaten, WBC welterweight king, Andre Berto, but "he can always say that he's undefeated," and, "people have to respect that."

The 27-year-old Berto made his assertions during Thursday's national conference call with media members which touted his April 16 sixth defense of his belt against hard-hitting, 24-year-old, southpaw former junior welterweight contender Victor Ortiz (28-2-2, 22 KOs), of Oxnard, Calif., that is slated for the Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, Conn.

"The thing with Floyd Mayweather, you know, okay, cool. A lot of people don't like him. They say that he talks crazy. And, you know, he's not the image that us boxing fans, or, you know, people really want to see when it comes to being a champion, or a top fighter for our sport," said Berto, who will pursue his 28th victory without a loss, his 22nd career knockout, and his third consecutive stoppage when he meets Ortiz.

"But when it comes to any kind of argument when it comes to this fight game, he can always say that he's undefeated. You know, he's never lost. And people have to respect that," said Berto. "At the end of the day, he might not show everything outside of the ring, but in the ring, you are going to have to respect him when it comes to this fight game. At the end of the day, the only thing that matters is coming up with a win."

Berto-Ortiz is part of an HBO-televised, split-site double-header whose co-feature matches WBA junior welterweight champ, Amir Khan (24-1, 17 KOs) against southpaw countryman, Paul McCloskey (22-0, 12 KOs) from the in the M.E.N. Arena in Manchester in their native England.

In Ortiz represents the fourth southpaw that Berto will have faced as champion.

In succession, Berto has decisioned left-handers Louis Collazo (30-4, 15 KOs), and, ex-world titlist Juan Urango (22-3-1, 17 KOs), respectively, in January, and, May, of 2009, during his second and third defenses, and, stopped southpaw, former world titlist, Carlos Quintana (27-3, 21 KOs), in the eighth round in April.

Berto is coming off of November's first-round knockout of Freddy Hernandez (29-2, 20 KOs), of Mexico City.

Ortiz is 4-0-1, with three knockouts, over his past five fights, including May's 10-round, unanimous decision over former world champion, Nate Campbell, September's third-round stoppage of ex-titlist Vivian Harris (29-5-1, 19 KOs), and December's 10-round, majority draw with Lamont Peterson (28-1-1, 14 KOs).