Andre Berto Shows 'Heart Of A Lion' Against Carlos Quintana -- FanHouse

By Lem Satterfield, FanHouse

WBC welterweight (147 pounds) champion, Andre Berto, of Winter Haven, Fla., was fighting the toughest fight of his life, mentally, physically, and, emotionally, on Saturday night before his partisan fans at at the BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise, Fla.

Not only was the 26-year-old Berto facing his most difficult opponent in 33-year-old, southpaw former world champion, Carlos Quintana, of Puerto Rico, but the Haitian-American was doing so with a heavy heart -- this, in a clash that ended an 11-month ring absence during which eight of Berto's family members were killed in the mid-January earthquake that rocked Haiti.

In addition, to that, Berto had to overcome a second-round tear in his left bicep against Quintana, who was looking for his third straight knockout in as many consecutive victories.

"I think I tore it [bicep] probably in the second round. Second or third round. I felt it, and every time that I threw it, I could feel it," said Berto, who donated proceeds from Saturday night's show to his continued efforts toward Hatian disaster relief.

"I could feel that I had hurt it pretty badly, so I just tried to stay strong," said Berto. "Just working my way through it. I was feeling pretty rusty like I said. But we have the heart of a lion, so I just finished it off."

Berto did just that in the eighth round, where an early, left-right combination began a barrage of blows against Quintana that prompted refree Tommy Kimmons to wrap his arms around the beaten fighter signaling the end of the fight at 2:16 of the round.

"I knew that I had hurt him a couple of times during the fight, and I didn't want him to get off of the hook. But I had hurt my bicep, like I said, and I wanted to try to finish the fight as soon as I could," said Berto. "You know, because with each round, it felt like it was getting worse, and worse, and worse. So I just wanted to finish the fight, and to finish it in impressive fashion."

In victory, Berto rose to 26-0, with his 20th knockout, as Quintana slipped to 27-3, with 21 KOs after the HBO- televised bout.

Berto had emersed himself in the cause of Haiti, devoting much of his attention toward saving lives and generally lifting the will and the well-being of those who dwell there.

"I've definitely been missing it. As you can see, I'm still a little rusty. But we had to get back in here. You know, we've been working hard. Just like I said, we went through a lot these last few months in my personal life," said Berto. "But you know, the people there in Haiti are strong, so you know, I'm going to make sure to stay in this ring strong for them."

In Quintana, Berto defeated the only man to have vanquished three-time world champion, Paul Williams (38-1, 27 KOs), as
well as a fighter who is coming off of December's junior middleweight (154 pounds), third-round, technical knockout of Jesse Feliciano (15-8-3, nine KOs), of Las Vegas.

Quintana had dethroned Williams as WBO welterweight titlist in February 2008, but was knocked out in the first round of their rematch four months later. Quintana rebounded from that setback with October's fourth-round stoppage of Joshua Onyango, which was also contested at 154 pounds.

"Quintana's a former world champion. He's well experienced. So he knows all of the little tactics. So he hit me in the back of the head pretty hard. But we got up and we finished the fight. So it's all good," said Berto of Quintana, the third straight southpaw he has faced.

"As soon as I really started to let the pain in my body just numb away, I just took it out of my mind and tried to get back to business. By like the fifth or sixth round, I felt like I was getting back into my groove a little bit. I started to land some effective punches."

In the wake of the tradgedy which killed as many as eight of Berto's relatives, the distraught fighter had pulled out of a scheduled Jan. 30 bout with 38-year-old, WBA welterweight super champion, Shane Mosley (46-5, 39 KOs), who will now face 32-year-old, unbeaten, Floyd Mayweather (40-0, 25 KOs) on May 1.

Berto said that he will now look to face the Mayweather-Mosley winner, or, perhaps WBO welterweight king, Manny Pacquiao (51-3-2, 38 KOs), who is coming off of last month's unanimous decision over Joshua Clottey.

"I have a lot of things to choose from. Stilt, I'm willing to wait. All of those guys -- Shane Mosley, Floyd Mayweather, they've got a fight coming up. You know, Manny Pacquiao looks like he might be free," said Berto.

"Any of the top guys, I'm just ready to just get back in there and stay busy," said Berto. "I've been off for 11 months, and I'm just ready to get back in there. I'm 26 years old, and I'm still young, baby, so we're going to just keep pushing and to keep working hard."

Source: boxing.fanhouse.com