WBC welterweight champion Andre “The Beast” Berto will make his fourth title defense against Carlos Quintana on April 10 at the BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise, Fla.
Berto (26-0, 19 KOs), a two-time National Golden Gloves winner who captured 22 state titles in Florida, was scheduled to fight “Sugar” Shane Mosley this past January 30.
Sadly, Berto decided to withdraw ten days before the bout was to occur after eight members of his family were killed in the devastating magnitude 7.0 earthquake that struck Haiti on January 12.
“As a result of this disaster, I am mentally and physically exhausted and therefore I have no choice but to withdraw from my bout,” said Berto, 26, when he announced the cancelation of his match versus Mosley (46-5, 39 KOs).
Berto was born in Miami.
Nevertheless, “The Beast” is a proud Haitian-American who represented Haiti at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece.
“Andre is energized and ready to fight again,” said promoter Lou DiBella. “The working title of the card is ‘Fighting for Haiti.’ There will be a lot of charitable elements to the event.”
Quintana (27-2, 21 KOs), a southpaw who defeated Paul Williams for his WBO welterweight crown in February 2008, is an experienced and accomplished pugilist.
“Obviously, Mosley being the huge name that he is presented a big opportunity for Andre, but I believe this is a good test for him,” said DiBella, a graduate of Tufts University and Harvard Law School.
“He (Berto) is fighting a guy who is 1-1 with Paul Williams and who is clearly one of the 10 best welterweights in the world. Quintana is an excellent fighter. This fight is no walk in the park. People want to see Berto with a real quality welterweight. This guys is a real quality welterweight. It’s a difficult fight. Quintana is a tough fighter. Just ask Paul Williams.”
Berto has become a very popular fighter in the Boston area because Massachusetts has the third largest Haitian population in the United States and is home to approximately 70,000 to 80,000 Haitians.
Haitians initially began moving to the Bay State in the 1950’s primarily due to its employment opportunities and quality education system.
The largest contingent of Haitians are located in the Boston neighborhoods of Mattapan, Dorchester, Hyde Park and Roxbury.
Boxing is simply a sport.
The recent tragedy in Haiti is significantly more important than what essentially amounts to a game played between two people in a ring with gloves.
Still, many individuals in and around Beantown are grieving alongside Berto and those same people will surely be cheering for “The Beast” when he scraps Quintana this spring.
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