It’s not official yet, but welterweights Danny Garcia and Andre Berto are in talks for a possible September or October fight; so reports RingTV.com (although the man with all the news, Dan Rafael, wrote how this fight was a possibility a few days ago). Reportedly, the likely date is September 24th at The Barclays Centre in New York, with a later date in October also being looked at. But never mind the finer details – are fight fans happy with this match-up?
It’s by no means a bad fight, but shouldn’t Garcia – a superb fighter who looked as though he was at least three feet along the road to superstardom after his fine 2012/2013 wins over Amir Khan and Lucas Matthysse – be facing the elite of the elite? Okay, Garcia, 32-0(18) has not had that much experience as a welterweight (his biggest wins coming down at 140) but with the likes of Keith Thurman calling him out and with those recent reports suggesting “Swift” was in the running to face the soon to return Manny Pacquiao, it’s possible fans will fail to be too thrilled if the Berto fight is finalized and then announced.
Again, Garcia-Berto is by no means a bad fight – in fact, the action, should the two rumble, might make fools of those people who criticised the match-up – and, as Showtime’s Stephen Espinoza told Ring yesterday, “the options are limited.” As Espinoza said, all the top welterweights either have their own fights coming up or they are coming off recent big fights (ruling out, for now at least, Thurman, Shawn Porter, Amir Khan, Errol Spence Jr, etc, etc) and as a mark time fight, Garcia-Berto is not bad at all.
“[Berto is] probably one of the best if not the best option [for Garcia]. It’s a little bit of a challenge for Danny because he’s a little off track with the other welterweights, who all have fights lined up or are coming off fights,” Espinoza told Ring. “[Garcia and Berto] are still in discussion from what I understand.”
32-year-old Berto, 31-4(24) was last seen demolishing former conqueror Victor Ortiz in a relatively easy revenge win over his epic 2011 loss, and before that he was the retired Floyd Mayweather’s final dance partner. In shape and injury-free, Berto can be a handful for anyone and if Garcia looks past the former champ in any way, he could be in trouble. But on paper, the younger, faster, far less worn reigning WBC champ should have too much in his locker for Berto. It could be a good fight though – certainly a more than palatable appetizer to the big 2017 Garcia-Thurman unification fight that will hopefully go ahead on Showtime in the early part of next year.