Floyd Mayweather-Andre Berto: Post-Fight Report Card

By Cliff Rold

Anyone who ordered the pay-per-view on Saturday got their money’s worth and more.

Then the Mayweather fight started.

How worthless was the supposed ‘farewell’ of the best fighter of this era? Watch the post-fight interviews. Mayweather didn’t have a mark on him.

That’s nothing new.

Andre Berto was also fairly unblemished.

That is pretty new.

Berto is a fighter who, whenever he’s been in tough, has often come out looking like he was in a car crash. His aggressive style has meant significant swelling. He carries scars from his efforts. Against someone with accuracy of Mayweather, that should have meant punishment.

That it didn’t speaks to how little Mayweather was really even trying. He threw pot shots. He moved. He stuck his tongue out a few times. He talked to people around the ring. He clinched. He slipped shots with relative ease. In the twelfth, he even buzzed the unreliably chinned Berto.

He acted like a guy who made $32 million guaranteed for a walkover over a former two-time beltholder so spent he would be out of place rated in a current Welterweight top twenty.

Good work if you can get it.

Berto came out and kept trying to throw but never really made any adjustments. He didn’t dishonor himself in any way. He just wasn’t good enough and wasn’t enough of even his better self to make a serious fight of it.

In the respect, he was like a lot of fighters who make up the 49 in 49-0.

So is this the end? There is always the chance it is. Taking Mayweather at his word is a tough task. In May, after the Pacquiao win, Mayweather said he was vacating all his titles at 147 and 154 lbs. He did not. He still hasn’t. If and when he does, we can start wondering if he’s really done.

Until then, all these career eulogies floating around are just the sort of stage-managed thing Mayweather seems to relish outside the ring. This isn’t an episode of All Access. We’ll wait and see. 

Let’s go to the report card.

Grades

Speed: Mayweather A-; Berto B+/Same

Intangibles: Mayweather A+; Berto B/Same

Now for the in-depth technical analysis this fight deserves:

Mayweather won.

Report Card and Staff Picks 2015: 71-18 (Including Jack-Groves, Martinez-Salido, and Charlo-Bundrage)

Cliff’s Notes…

Nothing in the Mayweather-Berto fight takes away from that stellar undercard…Orlando Salido appeared to do more than enough to avenge his loss to Rocky Martinez and they topped their epic first encounter. It was just beautifully brutal and the third fight can’t come soon enough…Badou Jack has had one of the best years of anyone in boxing. Jack-George Groves was even better than expected and Jack’s body attack was vicious. He might be the most improved fighter of 2015…Jhonny Gonzalez may finally be hitting the warrior’s wall. Let’s hope he gets out before his body gives out. That he had another war like that in him was why he’s been so much fun. It’s hard to believe his fight with Israel Vasquez was almost a decade ago…Vane Martirosyan-Ishe Smith overachieved on the preshow. Nice effort from both men…PBC’s two shows this weekend might be the worst they’ve put on to date. Errol Spence-Chris Van Heerden and Marcus Browne-Gabriel Campillo were fine. Those are development fights for potential champions. The main events were abominable and almost made Mayweather-Berto look like a serious fight in contrast…Almost.

Cliff Rold is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene, a founding member of the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board, and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America.  He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com