By Rick Reeno
BoxingScene.com received a call from promoter Lou DiBella, who wanted to respond to our recent story, where Top Rank's CEO Bob Arum took a few verbal shots at the nearly finalized welterweight fight between WBC champion Andre Berto and junior welterweight contender Victor Ortiz. The Berto-Ortiz encounter takes place on April 16, and HBO will televise the fight as a split-site co-feature to Amir Khan's scheduled clash against Paul McCloskey in Manchester.
Arum lashed out during the final press conference for Saturday's clash between bantamweights Fernando Montiel and Nonito Donaire, which takes place at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.
Arum questioned why Berto is fighting Ortiz, who is coming off a draw with Lamont Peterson, and not facing the winner of Saturday's welterweight rematch between unbeaten Mike Jones and Jesus Soto Karass.
"Why is Andre Berto fighting a 140-pound fighter, who had a draw with another 140-pound fighter? There is one thing that I'm sure of, that these two fighters, these two welterweights [Jones and Karass], if they fought Victor Ortiz, they would destroy him," Arum said. "Why is Andre Berto fighting Victor Ortiz and not fighting the winner of this fight? That's a question that we all should be asking. What the hell is going on here?"
DiBella, the promoter of Berto, fired back with a few verbal shots of his own - and most of those shots were aimed at Manny Pacquiao's scheduled welterweight fight with Shane Mosley on May 7.
"I have no axe to grind with Bob, but people in glass castles shouldn't be throwing f**king bricks. Victor Ortiz may have had a draw in his last fight, but his style makes for an exciting match with Berto. And he's a welterweight. For his last fight, he came to the ring at 156-pounds, which is more than Berto ever weighed in the ring as a welterweight. He's [Arum] going to charge people $60 bucks for the man who he believes to be the best fighter in the world, to fight a guy who in his last fight had a draw with Sergio Mora, who just lost to Brian Vera," DiBella told BoxingScene.com.
"Bob should just concentrate on his fight and let other people do their own business. Mike Jones is a great young fighter, but he was offered a Berto fight previously and [Jones co-promoter] Russell Peltz turned it down. He had a questionable win over Soto Karass and I frankly thought Karass won, and now all of a sudden we're supposed to see him as a legitimate contender. I think Berto and Ortiz is a terrific matchup of styles and you don't have to shell out $50-60 bucks for it."
"Before he makes his argument, he should remember that he's out there promoting a fight that involves a guy who lost eleven rounds, two minutes and thirty seconds to [Floyd] Mayweather and then drew with Sergio Mora, who got beat by Brian Vera. Since Mosley had a draw with Mora, and he got beat by Vera, then maybe Brian Vera should be getting the f**king fight with Manny Pacquiao - if he wants to use that logic."
