Andre Berto says Pacquiao-Margarito is 'Ridiculous'



WBC champ vents his spleen





CURIOSITY: Berto says fans may enjoy seeing Margarito get beat up

WBC welterweight champion Andre Berto has blasted the November 13 fight between Manny Pacquiao and Andre Berto and not just because promoters Top Rank have snubbed him as an opponent for the Filipino. Yes, Bob Arum?s team keeping the November event ?in house? has riled the Haitian-American but Berto also has a moral objection ? regarding Margarito?s part in the handwraps scandal last year ? and added that the fight was effectively a mismatch.

?It?s a ridiculous situation,? he raged. ?Antonio Margarito has just come back from a suspension for something that many people felt he should have gone to jail for, a real terrible thing he was suspended for. And it just seems like he?s been rewarded for that terrible thing by his promoter with a huge payday. It?s a real sad situation.

?I don?t think it?s a fight anybody wants to see. People just aren?t fond of Margarito anymore, because they know that for his whole career the guy was probably a cheater. Pacquiao may be smaller but everyone knows he?s very consistent. It?s interesting maybe in terms of seeing a big guy get beaten up.?

Top Rank failed to even approach Berto as a possible opponent for Pacquiao on the November date, with only the promoter?s fighters, Miguel Cotto and Margarito, considered for the role.

This represented the latest in a long list of big fights that have eluded unbeaten Andre?s grasp. After being forced to pull out of a defining fight with Shane Mosley in January after his homeland was devastated by an earthquake, Berto saw the possibility of the fight being rearranged for this Autumn go up in smoke when ?Sugar? Shane signed to face Sergio Mora instead. Now talks with WBA light-middleweight king Cotto also look like coming to nought as the Puerto Rican may instead take on Vanes Martirosyan, Pacquiao?s gym-mate and yet another Top Rank boxer. All this has left the welterweight looking down for future challenges.

?If the Cotto talks don?t work out there?s plenty of guys at 140 I can have a catchweight fight with,? Berto explained. ?Amir Khan, Tim Bradley, Devon Alexander, they?re all making some noise.

?I?ve come in at 145 for some of my fights at 147 so I could maybe get down a litte more.?

It seems it's not just us who really dislike "Margo-cheato !!!"