Andre Berto's decision for Marquez-Katsidis undercard will come this week

by Scott Christ on Sep 7, 2010 3:46 PM EDT in Boxing News Analysis

Andre Berto might be on the November 27 undercard in Las Vegas. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Lance Pugmire of the Los Angeles Times reports that a decision will come this week on whether or not Andre Berto will defend his WBC welterweight trinket against Selcuk Aydin on November 27. The fight would be on the undercard of Juan Manuel Marquez's lightweight championship defense against Michael Katsidis, and could set up a triple-header for HBO that night.

Berto's promoter, Lou DiBella, told The Times on Tuesday that a Berto title defense against Turkey's Selcuk Aydin (20-0, 15 KOs) "is a possibility" that "should be done this week if it's going to happen."

So it's not the strongest bet just yet, but at least it's being given consideration. Truth be told, it's exactly where Berto should be, especially with an opponent as weak -- from a marketing standpoint -- as Aydin.

DiBella is already involved with the card, which is headlined by two Golden Boy fighters, because he's got featherweight Celestino Caballero set to take on Matt Remillard. Remillard (22-0, 13 KO) will be taking an enormous leap in competition against the former 122-pound titlist, who dominated Daud Yordan earlier this year on HBO and is looking to land a big fight next year against one of the division's top fighters. The 24-year-old Remillard has yet to face anyone near Caballero's level. The Connecticut native is showing some real brass by taking that fight.

As for Berto, let's hope he does this. Aydin is the WBC mandatory challenger, and he's clearly attached to the belt enough that he doesn't want to give it up. They tried to brush aside the Aydin mandate from the WBC when it was first passed down, but it's just not going to work that way. He's going to have to fight him or relinquish the strap, so if he's going to fight him, this is probably the only way it gets any HBO money at all. The network expressed no desire in having the fight as a main event. As a co-feature, it seems to work for the cable giant, and that makes sense. It's not a main event for HBO because it's not worth main event money, and it's not a main event as a live fight, either, because how can you sell tickets for that? Aydin is functionally nobody in the States and Berto has enough trouble drawing.

All that negativity aside, what makes it a nice co-feature is that it could be a pretty good fight. Aydin is aggressive and a bit chippy, and Berto is best when he really has to fight.

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Will this be on regular HBO or PPV?

by cyke on Sep 7, 2010 4:04 PM EDT reply actions

HBO

Bad Left Hook
"To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day..."

by Scott Christ on Sep 7, 2010 4:05 PM EDT up reply actions

That would be an awesome card then

by cyke on Sep 7, 2010 4:05 PM EDT up reply actions

so is that Remillard dude any good? the only impression that i got from this is that he’s a young’n who’s record is probably fluffed up, and is taking a huge step up in class. does he fight aggressively or is he boxer? does that fight have a chance to be entertaining?

Texans 19-0 in 2010-2011 season PERIOD

by battle axe of doom on Sep 7, 2010 4:17 PM EDT reply actions

He's a boxer who's pretty quick and seems to have developed more power recently

That said, he’s only been a regional level competitor up to this point, so it’s a big step up. Iceman John Scully is his trainer, so he has a solid corner. I’m just not sure his skill set is all that different from Steve Molitor’s though.

KB or Dom can probably give more info on Remillard, as I haven’t seen him since the last time he was on FNF or whatever which was a couple years ago, and I think they’ve seen him a few times live since then.

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"Baseball is played on the field, not on a calculator."

by Brickhaus on Sep 7, 2010 5:49 PM EDT up reply actions

I've seen him fight live and he's no scrub

He’s quick and packs a lot of power for his size. He’ll put up a good fight at worst and I just can’t see it being a blowout.

by cyke on Sep 7, 2010 5:58 PM EDT up reply actions

Who did you see him fight? That’s not back-handed or anything, I’m just curious.

Bad Left Hook
"To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day..."

by Scott Christ on Sep 7, 2010 6:02 PM EDT up reply actions

The second Rafael Lora fight. Lora started out strong, but wilted under the onslaught.

by cyke on Sep 7, 2010 7:15 PM EDT up reply actions

Great potential card

I haven’t seen much of Remillard, but it’s hard for me to imagine somebody being able to take a huge step-up in class against Caballero. He seems like the guy to challenge after you’ve succesfully taken a step up. Good for him, though, in taking his opportunity. Lord knows nobody else wants a piece of Caballero.

I’d be pumped for a Berto-Aydin fight, mostly because I think Aydin is big-time overrated and I’d love to see Berto mop the floor with him.

by Jay Smith on Sep 7, 2010 4:23 PM EDT reply actions

If Remillard fights hard and doesn't get embarrassed

It’s a great opportunity for him to step up onto the national stage.

Hopefully they can get someone like Jeffrey Mathebula as a sparring partner. In fact, he’s the only person I can think of who would be a decent sparring partner for someone like Caballero.

Bad Left Hook - The SB Nation boxing blog
"Baseball is played on the field, not on a calculator."

by Brickhaus on Sep 7, 2010 5:51 PM EDT up reply actions

Agbeko?

by Chaos100 on Sep 8, 2010 6:07 AM EDT up reply actions

He’s a half foot shorter than Caballero. Hell Remillard’s bigger than Agbeko.

Bad Left Hook
"To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day..."

by Scott Christ on Sep 8, 2010 7:16 AM EDT up reply actions

I was just thinking style-wise.

And I’ve always had the impression that Agbeko is Caballero-lite. Dunno why.

Most fight fans would not spend a dime to watch Van Gogh paint 'Sunflowers', but they would fill Yankee Stadium to see him cut off his ear. (Bill Nack)

by Chaos100 on Sep 8, 2010 7:20 AM EDT up reply actions

I've been racking my brain to think of somebody else

But I just keep picturing Paul Williams as a feather…

by Jay Smith on Sep 8, 2010 9:54 AM EDT up reply actions

This is an object lesson in why sanctioning bodies have a role to play in the boxing world, and why it’s better to have even terrible sanctioning bodies around than none at all.

I don’t think Aydin’s all that great, but if there were no sanctioning bodies and no mandatories, then he would never get a shot at Berto or any other high-profile fighter even if he actually was good, and no matter what he did to earn it. Why would anyone ever fight a guy from Turkey if he wasn’t forced to?

Most mandatories are stupid, but it’s better for fighters to fight stupid mandatories than for fighters to avoid fighting good mandatories. Even in a mandatory-less world, fighters would alternate between easy fights and hard fights. If there are going to be periodic mismatches anyway, they might as well come against fighters from obscure countries.

by taco pal on Sep 7, 2010 4:51 PM EDT reply actions