By Michael Collins: Former WBC welterweight champion Andre Berto (28-1, 22 KO’s) has been working Victor Conte, former Balco founder, who Berto hire to assist with his strength and conditioning for his rematch against Victor Ortiz (29-3-2, 22 KO’s) next month on February 11th, at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Berto, 28, believes that Conte will help his conditioning to where Berto won’t fade so badly like he did in his 12 round unanimous decision loss to Ortiz a year ago last April. Berto needs to fix his stamina problem because he was basically in the shutdown mode from the 7th round on.
Berto got tired and never got his second wind in that fight, and he also looked to be in the process of gassing out in his war with former IBF welterweight champion Jan Zaveck last September. If that fight was supposed to be a measuring stick of how far Berto’s progress has come in terms of his conditioning, then he gets a fail. Berto was starting to look tired again and it was only the start of the 5th.
Ortiz doesn’t have to do anything new in the rematch. All Ortiz has to do is continue with what he was doing last time against Berto by putting him under a ton of pressure to wear him down and force Berto fight to fight hard. Berto can’t resist slugging it out with his opponents even when it’s against his better judgment to do so.
But he has zero recuperative ability when he gets tired. Berto is one of those guys that gets tired and stays tired. His muscles must go to the complete exhaustion point with lactic acid and Berto doesn’t seem to clear it nearly as quickly as Ortiz.
I know Ortiz hired a new conditioning coach but I don’t see it making a difference in a 12 round fight. If Berto is going to win this fight, he’s going to win it early by knocking Ortiz out. If it goes 12 rounds, Berto will be perched along the ropes like he was last time, looking tired and showing a picture of the fight.