Floyd Mayweather announced that he will fight former welterweight world champion Andre Berto on September 12th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, just four days before Mexican Independence Day on September 16th. Mayweather will once again use a Mexican holiday (this time the real one) in order to reel in the big bucks with a high profile fight. The boxer is just one win away from tying the great Rocky Marciano’s unbeaten record of 49, which has held strong since the latter’s retirement in April 1956.
The fight will take place just four months after Mayweather’s historic unanimous decision victory over Manny Pacquiao, which was held at the same site. A steady crescendo of anticipation built up over the five years preceding the fight led to its being billed as “The Fight of the Century”, and its popularity exceeded expectations; Cinco de Mayo was in fact Cinco de Mayweather: the fight completely annihilated all-time pay-per-view records with over 4.4 million subscriptions sold at record prices of around $100. But the fight itself was a disappointment for many fans.
But that’s old news. Now, it’s Haitian-American Andre Berto’s chance to have a go, and he says he’s “coming to kick Floyd’s a** on September 12″. Haiti was the first Latin American country to gain independence during the Haitian Revolution of 1791-1804, so perhaps the time has come to take back what’s rightfully ours?! The two-time welterweight world champion and current interim belt holder is 30-3 with 23 KOs over his career, but a mediocre 3-3 in his past six contests. Fans are freaking out about the match-up, claiming it’s no match at all – after all, Mayweather is the best boxer in the world, and Berto is ranked 21st-best in the welterweight division. Basically, everyone agrees he doesn’t stand a chance.
The fight will be the final battle of Mayweather’s (so far) undefeated 19-year career, and he’s just given himself and underwhelming, easy shot at winning ?