Andre Berto’s Blog

Andre Berto Media Conference Call Quotes

Posted April 4th, 2011 by Julie

On Tuesday, March 29, Andre Berto and his trainer, Tony Morgan took part in a media conference call about the upcoming April 16th match-up with Victor Ortiz. Below are some of their quotes on the fight.

Andre Berto

“It seems like his team has been gassing him up based off this camp and realistically, April 16 will be a reality check for him. His coaches and his team have been lying to him all training camp and making him think this fight will be easy or a walk in the park. The ring is a cold place to find out the truth. I’m looking forward to it. Like he said, I don’t think this fight will go the distance and I think it will come out on our end.”

Tony Morgan, Berto’s Trainer

“It seems like Victor runs from confrontation. Like in the Maidana fight, he seems to run and look for a way out. He didn’t want to be on the phone with us. We are here to do a job and we’ll do what we came to do on April 16th.”

Andre Berto

Are you in a no win situation?

“I feel like I’m always going to get a little of criticism whether I win or lose. People don’t believe in my skills and potential. They are going to have to respect that I’m in there with a guy that’s young, can punch and has speed. It’s going to bring a lot of action and try to prove something. I don’t really listen to the criticism. I have confidence in myself and my fans and family are proud of me and I don’t really care about the criticism.”

“Victor Ortiz is a big guy. Realistically he’s a bigger guy than I am so it’s going to be a competitive fight and one to look forward to. Most likely he’s going to be bigger than me that night and I’m going to go in and do what I have to do. “

What makes Collazo difficult to fight?

“Luis Collazo is a tough veteran but just on my end, I wasn’t in shape like I was supposed to be for that fight and that’s a mistake that I made. That’s a mistake that a lot of young fighters on the rise go through. They come into to a fight that they don’t take seriously like they’re supposed to. I almost paid for it. I learned from it and was scared straight.   I made the Collazo fight difficult on my own.”

Did you see Victor’s fight against Lamont Peterson and what were your thoughts?

“I saw different pieces of it. It’s the same Victor Ortiz. He’s a good kid, he can fight but he’s very limited in a lot of areas. He tries to box, but he has to be set on his feet when he throws different types of punches. He’s a tough kid but it was a close fight. In the later rounds of the fight, Lamont hit him with a lot of tough shots that if I’d hit him with them, he would have gone to sleep.”

Do you question Victor’s heart?

“I think that at the end of the day, skills pay the bills. People have seen me out skill guys, seen me out power guys, seen my out bang guys. He has a lot more to prove and maybe this time he will live or die in there to try to prove a point. People know that every fight and every time I get in there, I have the heart of a lion, that’s just how I’m built. That’s not a question on my end.”

“I have to question his heart to a point because he of what he’s shown, even in one situation. He really had to endure some type of controversy and like a bump in the road (in the Maidana fight). Every other fight he was knocking guys out and one guy stands his ground and cracked him back, and that really shows you how his heart is. Like I said, he might try to prove something but you can’t teach that thing that beats in your chest. You can teach all types of skills but you can’t teach that heart that beats in your chest. You either have it or you don’t.“

What fights do you want after Ortiz?

“I’m not sure. Right now, all my focus is on fight night. I don’t see any other fight past that. I’ve been soaking all my energy and training into the fight in the next couple of weeks and that’s all I see right now.”

How is sparring going and who I’ve your sparring partners been? I know you’ve been working with Chop Chop Corley?

“We have four or five different sparring partners and lots of different looks. Chop Chop is here and I have four others and they are 160 or 165 and they all have different skills. I have a speed guy, someone who is extremely strong and a lot of different looks. Chop Chop is here for his craftiness and a veteran look.  I’m just feeling sharp, it’s always difficult trying to go in there with a southpaw, but everything is going tremendously well. I’m seeing things and I’m able to hurt these southpaws so it’s almost like second nature to be. It shouldn’t be a problem at all.”

This is a fight with two young stars with knockout power, how is preparation different?

“It’s just trying to stay smart in there, and on his end as well because he knows I can put him out with one punch. It’s just trying to stay smart and sharp and know every move is a smart move. I’ve been sparring big guys all of life, a lot of my other sparring partners in there are weighing 160-170 pounds. His power is something that I’m not a stranger to. I’ve been in there with big punchers. Urango is the hardest puncher at 140. I’m waiting to see what all the hype is about.”

What do you see as Victor’s weaknesses?

“He has a lot of different weaknesses. One is his being a puncher trying to be able to box. I don’t think he has that down yet. We’ll see April 16th. I’ll just use all my skills to expose them like I need to.”

Ortiz says you haven’t fought a puncher, what happens when you get hit?

“I got caught early in my career with a shot I didn’t see and my hand only touched the canvas and I got up and got a little more aggressive and I got in his a**. That’s how real fighters handle it.”

Tony Morgan, Berto’s Trainer

Victor Ortiz fights a lot on his toes unlike other fighters that are flat footed, what do you expect?

“If you watch Victor, he’s a lot of in and out movement. His main strength is his right jab and a straight left, but he throws it hard. He’s hurt everyone he’s ever fought with it. He throws good combinations inside but we’re not just going to sit there and let Victor punch on us. I truly think Victor is going to come out of the gate and miss and get hit with something hard and get fast feet and make us chase him all around in the ring. I think he wants to come in big and show everyone that he’s the big man and he’s not a shot fighter and he’s got heart. The last two guys he fought, neither one could really punch and Lamont punched him a couple of times and Victor ran from Lamont. I think Maidana is a strong fighter, but he doesn’t punch near as hard as Berto.”

Is Victor Ortiz the best opponent you fought?

“I think he’s a tough kid, it’s hard to say because I haven’t been in the ring with him yet. I can answer that after the fight. I won’t continue to get the credit I deserve. I’m going to keep doing what I’m doing and knock these guys out.”

“My last 27 opponents said the same thing that Victor said (that they’re going to knock him out). They’re coming to knock me out, they’re going expose me, they’re going to take me to deep water and drown me. I’ve heard it all. You can really go to a class to really trick your mind into thinking something else. If that’s where he feels okay, fine. It’s going to be a lot more exciting fight and it’s going to be a shorter fight.”

“I think his team has been hyping him up and selling him dreams. On April 16th, he’s going to see the truth. He’s going to see all his friends that he thought were his friends disappear. It’s going to be a big reality check and a lot of these kids have to go through that.“

“I’m not sure (what impact the Maidana fight has had), I believe it’s a loss that he took. He really is trying to build his confidence back up. He’s trying to build himself to where he needs to be. It’s an embarrassing loss in his hometown. He saw something in himself that he didn’t like. He and everyone else saw a hungry kid for the last few years and he got in there with some competition. The kid they thought was a big lion or tiger was a big pussycat. That played with him a little bit and he’s trying to get himself back where he needs to be. This fight is either going to bring the best out of him or he’s going to revert back to where he was in the Maidana fight.”

How are you preparing to fight a southpaw?

“I have some tremendous sparring partners, I really think its going to be a mistake on their end if they sit back and watch the Collazo fight and I think that’s the main thing that they’re doing. People see that was a close fight but I wasn’t prepared for that fight mentally or physically at all. I think that’s the worst I will ever look. I’ve had tremendous sparring throughout training camp. As much experience as you can have with those punches coming toward you from those angles and that way, and just get your mind ready for those punches, the better prepared you’ll be.”

Your last win was a first round KO against a guy with a great record and before that you had a career defining victory over Carlos Quintana. What’s your perspective on how those victories were received?

“I think I’ve gotten credit, but then again a lot of it has been downplayed. Just the boxing public in general went more. They see an exciting fight and they want to see more and see you go straight to the number one guy. That’s just how fight fans are. Just being young, and because I have speed, and I have power, they want to see me tested against the best. They want to see me fight the Mayweathers and the Pacquaios. They figure that I have to win or I’m supposed to win. I can’t get really get upset about it like I used to because I didn’t understand. They see my potential and my skills.”

“I’ve grown up in front of the world, fighting on HBO from my 16th,17th fight on. They’ve watched me grow, they’ve watched me evolve. Just like a student who goes from 9-12 grade, you want to see them tackle the best when it comes to the world. All the focus is on April 16th and then we’ll see what happens.”

“At the end of the day in this boxing game, the only thing that matters is if you win. Victor Ortiz was with Fernando Vargas, he was the most exciting kid coming out of Golden Boy. He had the looks, had the Spanish background, and he was knocking people out. As soon as he lost, people turned their back on him so quickly. You just have to be prepared to win. You have to continue being consistent. A lot of people don’t like Floyd. He’s not the image that a lot of fans want to see when it comes to a champion or a top fighter for a sport. But in any type of argument, he can always say he never lost. He might not show everything outside out of the ring, but you’re going to respect him when it comes to this fight game, you have to respect him.”

“My big fight is April 16, it’s going to be a big show on HBO with two young, hungry lions. I’ve called out all the big guys, I’ve been here and done that. Everyone understands, there’s nothing that I have to keep trying to preach. It’s almost a cliché now. If it’s Nonito Donaire at 118 pounds or Sergio Martinez at 160  pounds, and they  just put on a great performance and the first question is who do you want to fight -Mayweather or Pacquaio. It’s getting cliché. I’m just going to keep putting these guys in front of me and keep dominating and make my presence known. All that barking doesn’t get business done. If these guys want to fight you, they’ll fight you or they’ll keep walking. Your performance in general will get things done.”