"I've been in camp with Berto and Berto is a tremendous fighter, man. He is also a tremendous athlete. I honestly think Berto is going to give Floyd way more problems than Pacquiao. I think if he catch Floyd, he can probably do some damage," stated middleweight contender Willie Monroe Jr., who shared his thoughts on the September 12 clash between undefeated pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather and former welterweight champion Andre Berto. According to Monroe Jr., Berto has the tools and just as much of a chance to dethrone Mayweather as anyone that has previously faced him. Check out what else he had to say!
WILLIE MONROE JR. ON MAYWEATHER VS. BERTO:
A lot of people look at the...it's funny because boxing is a sport where you can win 24 fights straight, all by knockout, and then you lose 1 fight and then you're a bum. It's crazy how critical boxing fans are. They fail to remember all of these guys that Berto was laying flat with ease. And they can sit back and say he fought bums or this or that, but a fight is a fight and you have to show up and win those fights. Most people who have a strong opinion can't even get in the gym and do 5 situps, but they want to tell a fighter how good he is. It's really sad because you don't see fighters showing up at McDonald's telling people how to flip burgers and dump their fries. You don't see a fighter showing up to Walmart telling people how to run their register. So don't show up to a fight trying to tell a fighter who has been doing this for years how to fight.
I think if anybody has a chance at dethroning Floyd, it will be Berto. He's a big puncher, he's fast, and he can fight. One thing Berto has that you can't teach is heart. When he fought Guerrero, he fought the last 5 rounds blind basically. He fought most of the fight with Soto-Karass with one arm. Maybe because I've been in camp with Berto and I know Berto on a personal level, I see things that a lot of people haven't seen. And when he puts it all together, he's tough to deal with. I think people should just be happy that boxing is back on the forefront. It's a sport now where you can see it on a regular basis. People don't realize, boxing isn't what it was yesterday and it's not what it's going to be tomorrow, so just be happy with what you have and watch it evolve and grow.
But they want to have these water cooler moments where they sit around at their job and talk about a fighter. And it's like, man, you don't know what it's like to be in a slap boxing match let alone what it is to prepare for 8 weeks and fight in front of millions of people. People don't understand the science and the work that it takes to go into the ring. It was different for me to step in front of 15,000 fans when I fought Triple G knowing there was also about 2 million viewers at home watching it. And out of the 15,000 fans, 14,989 was pulling for him. That's different for anybody and people are so critical it's like you can't win for losing. If I was offered the Golovkin fight and I said, "No, I don't want to fight him," they would say I was scared and ducking him. I took the fight, gave it my all, and I'ma bum.
[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]