Berto beats injury, knocks out Quintana
If an eleven month void of fights and personal hardship was not enough of a concern, Andre Berto dealt with another obstacle soon after he entered the ring for his return bout in Saturday night's welterweight title defense against Carlos Quintana.
Berto, favoured his left arm from an apparent injury sustained in the early rounds. Suddenly, he faced the dilemma of fighting with limited use of one arm on a night he not only wanted to make a resounding statement about his profile but also raise further awareness of the Jan. 12 earthquake in Haiti.
"I've gone through so much these last few months in my personal life, but people in Haiti are strong, so I am going to make sure to be strong for them. Every time I threw, I felt like I hurt it really bad, but I have the heart of a lion, so we finished it off." said Berto, who lost relatives in the earthquake.
Berto withstood the pain in his arm, increased his punching accuracy in the middle rounds and scored an eighth-round technical knockout over Quintana at BankAtlantic Center. Berto (26-0, 20 KOs) unleashed a flurry of unanswered combinations, pinning Quintana to a corner midway through the eighth. Although Quintana escaped the first flurry, Berto kept the pressure on.
Bloodied and bruised, Quintana got caught in another corner as Berto landed additional combinations. Berto scored with a straight right to the head, snapping Quintana's head back. Referee Tommy Kimmons didn't allow another punch and stopped the fight at 2:16 of the eighth, giving Berto the fourth successful defense of his World Boxing Council welterweight belt.
"I let the pain in my [biceps] numb away," Berto said. "I took it out of my mind and just tried to get back to business. Around the fifth and sixth, I thought I was getting in my groove a little bit. I knew I hurt him a couple of times during the fight. I wanted to finish the fight in impressive fashion."
The TKO victory enables Berto to remain in the mix for attractive fights against the sport's top welterweights, Manny Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Shane Mosley. Mayweather and Mosley will fight May 1st in Las Vegas.
"I just want to get back in there and stay busy, we're going to keep pushing and keep working hard." Berto said.