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Following his upset loss to Jesus Soto Karass on July 27 in San Antonio, Andre Berto will undergo surgery to repair the main supporting tendon of his right rotator cuff. Berto injured the shoulder in the fight, and tried to combat Soto Karass essentially with one arm.
"I threw a punch in the second round and when Soto Karass blocked it, my right upper arm connected with his and it felt like fire shot through my arm," Berto said. "I had no power at all in that right arm and couldn't hold it up to defend myself. I kept trying to use it, but midway through the fight, I realized I couldn't and just tried to work my left hand and throw jabs.
"I threw it instinctually in the heat of the battle later in the fight and yelled from the pain shooting through my arm. I could see that Soto Karass and the referee heard me, and the referee and doctor kept coming to the corner between rounds to check on the injury but there was no way I was going to quit."
Berto, 29, will undergo on Wednesday, as they have waited for the swelling in the arm to go down.
"Surgery is obviously never something that anyone wants to deal with, but adversity is nothing new to me," Berto said. "I know that Dr. ElAttrache is one of the best in the business so I am in good hands. I'm going to tackle this latest obstacle head on and I plan to be back in the ring full force in 2014. I really appreciate all the support that my fans have given me over the last few weeks and promise that you are going to see much more from me in the future."
Dr. Neal ElAttache also aided in Berto's recovery from a left biceps injury in 2012, and performed UFC champion Georges St. Pierre ACL surgery in 2011.
Berto (28-3, 22 KO) won't be magically "fixed" by the surgery, as there are pretty obvious boxing issues that have nothing to do with his shoulder, but without being one-armed, there's a decent chance that he might have been able to will himself into the fight more than he did. He fought pretty damn hard all things considered, and with a good right shoulder, he may have been able to throw bombs and come back in that fight after a poor start.