Former welterweight world titleholders Andre Berto and Devon Alexander have been two of the bigger names in the loaded division for many years, and each has been in his share of high-profile fights. But both have also been quite inactive in recent years and they are largely viewed as being on the backside of their careers.
Berto, a two-time world titleholder, is 3-4 in his last seven fights since 2012 and coming off a ninth-round stoppage loss to Shawn Porter in a title elimination fight 16 months ago. Alexander, who has won belts at welterweight and junior welterweight, is 2-3-1 in his last five fights since 2013 and coming off a majority draw with long-faded former titlist Victor Ortiz in February, albeit in a fight most thought Alexander clearly won.
Despite their recent hard times, Berto and Alexander both have goals of landing another shot at a world title, making their ultimate crossroads fight a must-win for each when they meet in the main event of the Premier Boxing Champions card on Saturday (Fox, 7:30 p.m. ET) at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, New York.
Lou DiBella, who is co-promoting the card with Tom Brown of TGB Promotions, summed up what’s at stake in the 12-round bout.
“In Andre Berto and Devon Alexander you have two, two-time former world champions, both of whom want to fight under the biggest lights in the biggest fights possible and they must win in this battle against each other in the welterweight division,” DiBella said.
Berto has battled injuries and boxed just three times since late 2015 — a lopsided loss to Floyd Mayweather in a world title fight followed by a fourth-round revenge knockout of Victor Ortiz in their rematch and then the loss to Porter, who knocked him down three times.
But Berto (31-5, 24 KOs), of Winter Haven, Florida, is undaunted. He said he is still having fun boxing even if at age 34 he admits his body doesn’t respond and recover as it once did.
During his layoff he said he said he used the time to relax, enjoy life, travel and spend time with family and friends while recharging his batteries.
He’s back in the ring, he said, in order to finish his career the way he wants to.
“Everything is motivation nowadays,” Berto said. “(I want) to finish off the way we want to finish off. The fight with Porter, Devon knows as well, he’s an MMA fighter and he does a lot of rough things and rough tactics and for me that’s not the way I really wanted to try to finish things off towards the end of my career. I’ve had a tremendous career and for me I believe that I’m in the right head space now just to finish this thing off the way we want to finish it off and that’s strong.
“I’m just 34 years old and we’re still young, we’re still vibrant. We still have all our marbles, still have all our money, and we just want to really try to start and try to make it the new trend to try to step away from this game early and with all our marbles. But, of course, we want to try to make sure just to put everything into this game towards the end and that’s where I am right now.”
Berto believes that because of his name recognition and his reputation for being in fan-friendly fights a win will put him back in a title fight.
“We’re at a place that our names are heavy enough in the game that it could lead us directly to a title shot,” Berto said of whoever wins Saturday. “This is an important fight.”
Alexander (27-4-1, 14 KOs), 31, of St. Louis, suffered through a stretch from 2013 to 2015 when he lost three of four bouts, including a decision to Porter that cost him his world title as well as decisions to Amir Khan and journeyman Aron Martinez.
Following the shocking loss to Martinez in October 2015, Alexander was out of the ring for 25 months before rebounding to outpoint Walter Castillo in November followed by the draw with Ortiz.
Alexander’s layoff was caused in large part by his addiction to painkillers. It took him time to come to grips with his problem and he spent time in a rehabilitation center to get clean before coming back to boxing. He is happy to be back in the spotlight doing what he has loved to do since he was a kid.
“For me I’m just trying to get back in the ring. I’m excited to show people why I’m still one of the top, elite welterweights in the world,” Alexander said. “I want to prove to people that I’m still in my prime and every fight is meaningful in my career at this point. So I just want to thank everybody who made this possible. Excited to be against Berto and I’m excited to see what he’s got.”
Although he didn’t get the victory most thought he deserved against Ortiz, Alexander looked as good as he has in years and was pleased with the performance, which also headlined a PBC on Fox card. It was a performance he hopes to build on against Berto.
“I think everybody know that I won convincingly,” Alexander said. “I was going out there to dominate completely. He had a lot of fans down there (in El Paso, Texas) and I’m not making no excuse but I thought I won, but, that’s part of the game. I’m glad a lot of people saw it as a win and they got to make their own conclusion from the fight. So I was happy about that. But I’m just glad everybody got a chance to see it.”
Now Berto and Alexander are facing each other on national television with their careers essentially hanging in the balance when it comes to the possibility of another title fight.
“This fight can catapult us to a world title shot and that’s my goal,” Alexander said. “That was my goal to get a world title and that’s what I’m focusing on. I’m hungry. I just turned 31. I’m hungry and I feel refreshed, I feel vibrant, and I just want to show people that I’m still one of the elite welterweights in the division. I’m still right here. I’m still the same guy that people saw four or five years ago. So this fight, this win will, and it should, put me in a title fight soon.
Berto feels the same way.
“It’s going to be up to Devon if he’s going to rise up to the occasion and the same thing on my end,” he said. “We had a great camp and I’m ready to do what I got to do. I need to come out with a win.”
The undercard
In the co-feature, former middleweight world titlist “Kid Chocolate” Peter Quillin (33-1-1, 23 KOs), 35 of Brooklyn, New York, will face J’Leon Love (24-1-1, 13 KOs), 30, of Las Vegas, in a 10-round super middleweight fight. The 10-round opener will feature former junior welterweight world titlist Sergey Lipinets (13-1, 10 KOs), 29, a Kazakhstan native fighting out of Los Angeles, moving up to welterweight for his first fight since losing his world title to Mikey Garcia in February. Lipinets will fight Erick Bone (20-5, 8 KOs), 29, of Ecuador.
Preliminary bouts from the card will air on FS2 beginning at 5:30 p.m. ET, including a pair of 10-rounders: light heavyweight contender Marcus Browne (21-0, 16 KOs), 27, of Staten Island, New York, taking on Lenin Castillo (18-1-1, 13 KOs), 29, of the Dominican Republic, and former welterweight world titlist Luis Collazo (37-7, 20 KOs), 37, of Brooklyn, facing fellow southpaw Bryant Perrella (15-1, 13 KOs), 29, of Fort Myers, Florida.