Pacquiao is ridiculously strong right now - Andre Berto

By Dennis 'dSource' Guillermo

Recently at the Undisputed Gym in the Bay Area, I caught up with former WBC welterweight champion Andre Berto (27-1-0, 21 KOs) who is currently training hard for his IBF title fight on September 3 against the Slovenian champion Jan Zaveck (31-1-0, 18 KOs) in Biloxi, Mississippi to talk about his return to the ring after suffering the first loss of his career against Victor Ortiz last April.

Among a lot of things that I talked to Berto about, were his thoughts on the upcoming third fight between Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez in November, and whether he thought that the 8-1 underdog Marquez has a chance in beating Pacquiao.

"You know what, Pacquiao right now... I believe he (Marquez) does have a chance, but Pacquiao, he's just looking so ridiculously strong right now and fast," Berto told me.

"He's completely different from when they fought back in the day, while Marquez is still a naturally small guy. He's coming up to fight Pacquiao. Pacquiao, like I said, is looking tremendously strong fighting big 147 pounders. It's almost ridiculous how strong and fast he looks. We're talking about Mosley, Mosley was like, "that's one of the hardest punchers he's ever fought," and I'm like "that's crazy". I believe it's going to be a good fight, but it's going to be tough to deal with Pacquiao's speed and power."

Asked how he would try to beat Pacquiao if the opportunity presented himself, Berto replied to me with a few interesting concepts.

"I believe a lot of people, they're, I guess afraid of his speed and power; they don't really want to commit too much. I think the only way to beat Pacquiao is to not be afraid to come in and commit," Berto claimed.

"Everybody that really committed with him, you see Cotto when he fought him, the first round was good. Cotto touched him pretty good. He's not too hard to touch, but you just got to remember that he's coming back with some heat, and I think that kind of gets people out of the game. But you just got to be there to fight. You just can't take a shot and ball up the rest of the fight and call it quits. That's the type of guy you need to fight with. Like I said, if it were me, I'm going to fight fire with fire; a lot of speed a lot of power, and be smart as well- turning off angles and keep him off balanced a little bit."

Source: boxingscene.com