Andre Berto wins split decision over Devon Alexander

In a must-win matchup of veteran welterweights and former titleholders, Andre Berto outlasted Devon Alexander to win a highly debatable split decision tonight in Uniondale, New York, live on FOX.

Berto won on scores of 115-112, 115-112, and 113-114. BLH scored the fight 115-112 for Alexander, and it’s hard not to feel bad for the 31-year-old St. Louis native, who has had two solid performances this year and come out of them with a nonsense draw and a questionable loss.

Berto (32-5, 24 KO) will now find himself right back in the mix at 147 pounds, despite the fact that he’s 35 years old and clearly at the back end of his career. A win is a win, and you can’t take anything away from the effort Berto gave tonight. He appeared to fall behind early, but came back stronger in the middle and late rounds, including a ferocious effort in the 12th and finale frame.

Berto was ruled down in the third round on a bad call from referee Ron Lipton, who seemed aggressively on Berto’s case through much of the fight.

Alexander (27-5-1, 14 KO) is back to the drawing board again. At 31, he’s got a few years left to make some noise, but this is a second straight discouraging result for the St. Louis southpaw, too.

It’s hard to imagine this version of Berto being any real danger to the true top fighters of the division. After all, last time we saw him before this fight, he was pummeled by Shawn Porter. But the win puts him back in the line for those type of fights, and it just is what it is. If nothing else, he’s got at least one more good payday coming his way thanks to this decision.