By Rick Reeno
Virgil Hunter, trainer for former welterweight champion Andre Berto, was not happy with the recent comments that were publicly made by Berto's personal chef, Chef Justine.
During a recent interview with TMZ, Chef Justine took a crack at the Chef Q, who is the personal chef for WBC/WBA welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Although not officially announced, Mayweather vs. Berto is likely for September 12th on Showtime Pay-Per-View from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Hunter, like everyone else, is waiting to receive the green light that a Mayweather fight is official.
"What we are doing over here is 100 times better health-wise than what Floyd's doing," Chef said. "I will never ever, ever do what she does. Her food looks good on the soul food side but I don’t think your heart could last too long eating that all day."
"Andre is working super hard. He is not taking anything lightly to get his mind and body right. My diet program will be a huge reason why Berto will win."
Hunter saw no reason for anyone associated with Berto to disrespect an individual who has nothing to do with the actual fight. And he wanted to make it clear that Chef Justine's comments were not being made on behalf of Team Berto.
"I would like to extend an apology out to the Mayweather camp and in particular his chef. I don't know her name, but I know that she's been with him for a while. I'm speaking on behalf of my team, Team Berto and also myself personally. In general this is not the type of responses and conduct that we want to display or discredit someone else's profession," Hunter told BoxingScene.com.
"She has done a tremendous job. She's been with him a while and he's been victorious during that time. I haven't met our cook. Berto speaks highly of her, the way that she cooks and the way she prepares it. She sounds like a person who can benefit us tremendously with a fighter's diet and things like that."
"On the other hand, by her first coming on the scene she should understand that we don't conduct ourselves like that. It's one thing to have a fight and settle it in the ring, its another thing to discredit somebody that you don't know by observing something that they might be eating that day. We want to extend this apology on behalf of myself, Team Berto and all of our team. We don't conduct ourselves like this and it wont happen again. We hope she accepts this apology because its sincere."