Mosley-Berto to be announced Saturday morning

Although HBO already ran the graphic during a promo spot on Saturday night, the Shane Mosley-Andre Berto fight for January 30 will be announced officially on Saturday morning in Las Vegas, reports ESPN.com's Dan Rafael.

The two will meet at Mandalay Bay. I'd almost expect Top Rank to have a few words about the fight being announced on Saturday, when their two biggest names, Miguel Cotto and Manny Pacquiao will square off on pay-per-view. As we heard back in May when Mayweather-Marquez was announced just before Hatton-Pacquiao, there's an unwritten rule that you don't steal the spotlight. But since Golden Boy was involved in both events, that didn't stir the pot any.

Bob Arum has already recently breathed some fire in Oscar de la Hoya's direction, so this one might get him unhinged a bit. Or else he'll choose to ignore it. Mosley (Golden Boy) and Berto (DiBella Entertainment) will make for a big fight, but not one so big that it should detract eye number one away from Cotto-Pacquiao this Saturday. It's an advantageous day for the fight to be announced, so what can you really do?

I'm quite excited that this one's a go. It almost happened this past January, and instead we got a couple of other memorable fights in Berto-Collazo and Margarito-Mosley. Now, we have a Mosley who is at or near the very top of the welterweight division against a Berto who is a bit more proven than he would have been then. The tough win over Collazo was his first truly "earned" victory, and then he made Juan Urango look like a bum in May.

I also kind of expect -- and this is pure speculation, obviously -- that the winner of Mosley-Berto is probably more in line to fight Floyd Mayweather Jr. than the winner of Cotto-Pacquiao. Arum has seemed like he's about 3% interested in even negotiating a fight between Mayweather and the winner, and a Mosley win just ups a profile that is already high, while a Berto win means he's young, undefeated, a beltholder and now has a win over Shane Mosley. But that's just a feeling.

It's also good to hear that despite Mosley's idea that all of his fights should be on pay-per-view now, this one will go on regular old HBO. Good to know HBO and the promoters realize that Mosley-Berto probably wouldn't drastically outsell a good Latin Fury.