Boxing’s welterweight division is arguably the division with the most talented fighters today. Pound-for-pound list is laden with the top welterweights of the world: Floyd Mayweather Jr., Shane Mosley, Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito, to name a few.

While he is not one of the most renowned welterweight boxers, Andre Berto is fast becoming one of hottest prospects of the division. The 25-year old Berto has and undefeated record of 24-0 with 19 knockouts.

On May 30 (May 31, GMT +10), he will be facing Juan Urango, a brawler coming off an impressive win against Herman Ngoudjo. With a record of 21-1-1 (16 knowckouts), the 28-year old is certainly no pushover.

The fight between Berto and Urango will be a study in contrast, with Berto being the heavy favorite. Berto is the naturally bigger man, having fought most of his fights at welterweight (he even fought at middleweight) He has fast and powerful hands – a deadly combo that Urango has to be wary of. He can unleash a fury of punches in the body and in the head. But his most impressive punch in his arsenal would be his uppercut - he has one of the most accurate in the sport. He also has a good chin. The weak points of his game would be his footwork. In his last fight against Collazo, Berto was staggered in one of the early rounds, not necessarily due to Collazo’s power, but because he was caught with a punch while backpedalling.

Urango is the smaller man, having fought a majority of his fights at 140 pounds or under. Urango can hardly be called a finesse player, preferring to walk over his adversary and pummel him with power shots. Coming up in weight against Berto, his vaunted power punches may be put to the test against the natural welterweight. Defensively, he has a good chin, but he leaves himself open whenever he throws his wide hooks.

In this fight, we can see a pressure-packed rounds in the early going. Urango is expected to look for an early knockout, which Berto can most likely withstand. Berto may have trouble with Urango’s style in the early going, which he will adjust to in the later rounds (as he did with his fight against Collazo, when he mounted a comeback to get a unanimous decision win). With Berto’s style, a knockout against Urango is highly likely to happen in the last 4 rounds, as his power and speed will be too much for Urango. However, Urango cannot be dismissed easily, as he has a puncher’s chance of knocking out Berto.

Photo: boxingscene.com