Andre Berto was able to stop Josesito Lopez in the 6th round of their “PBC” on Spike TV main event, live from the Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario, California.
Berto stayed in a puncher’s stance early in the 1st round, but Lopez never took the bait. As both fighters circled each other to no prevail and certainly no effect, Lopez tried attacking the body in the closing moments.
Lopez was failing to set his punches up, and even when he tried it seemed not to work, so he only managed to land one shot at a time with any damage. Berto seemed tight and focused. It was as though Berto had some more motivation behind his performance, but it only made him vulnerable.
Berto’s hands began to get looser as the rounds moved along, and Lopez was having difficulty putting together any success on a consecutive magnitude. However, Lopez was landing in spots. Berto roughed Lopez’s face up, and the signs of damage started to emerge and it was clear he was getting beat up.
Lopez was the busier looking fighter, however. It stands to reason that Lopez was winning some of these rounds early on with spots of effective punching and a more aggressive approach.
In the 6th round, Berto hurt Lopez with some combination punching. He sent Lopez down to the canvas, but Lopez was able to beat the count. However, moments later Lopez was sent back to the canvas, and the referee decided to call a halt to the action, a bit of a premature decision.
Lopez was not in severe danger; he wasn’t even all that hurt. It was probably the most minimal amount of hurt a fighter could be when making the decision to stop the fight. So, with a little bit of controversy at the end, Berto got the stoppage victory he was looking for, while sadly for Lopez he has to live with the decision knowing he was actually ahead on all 3 judges’ scorecards to close the fight.
Berto had this to say in the post-fight interview, “I feel like I’m right back in title contention. I think I’ve proved tonight that I’m right back in the mix.”
Berto will go on and most likely receive a higher profiled fight, maybe even a title shot, while Lopez regroups and remains a hard luck loser.
