Andre Berto has been inactive since his September 2011 victory against Jan Zaveck, where he won the IBF welterweight world title. Since then, his rematch with Victor Ortiz was postponed in February due to an injury and cancelled in May due to a positive test for a performance enhancing substance named nandrolone, administered by VADA (Voluntary Anti-Doping Agency). Now, Berto is slated for a return on November 24th against Roberto Guerrero scheduled to take place in The Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario, California airing live on HBO.
Andre Berto was a guest on ThaBoxingVoice.com’s Radio Show this past Sunday and reflected on his situation. “Punishment wasn’t just, everything just happened too quick. It was a fight everyone wanted to see (Berto-Ortiz 2), fight of the year type of fight. They put a lot of time and promotion behind it. It was a fight I wanted to prove something. It was a mega fight; I think they just reacted too quickly. We all got cheated out of a mega fight at the end of the day,” Berto told ThaBoxingVoice.com.
For Team Berto and his family, it was real tough time. For Berto, he learned about the dark side of the business and the aftermath that was involved with being seen in a negative light.
“It was crazy that everything just happened in minutes. Us, just being blind about it and not knowing what was going on. VADA put it out to the public about Berto had a positive test without really doing the research. It was just a nightmarish situation because we didn’t do anything wrong. I tried to get away from it; I see it scroll down the bottom of ESPN while watching the NBA playoffs. It was a real tough time for us. I had to just feel the good, the bad, and the darkness.”
However Berto stayed as positive as he could. Even though he doesn’t wish it on anyone else, he feels the positives with his experience. “A lot of people ask for it but once they close the curtains on u, you get to see the other side of the boxing game. It’s not too pleasant and not too glamorous. It’s a sport that shows you love and at the same time and in turn can show you the dark side of it. If you not sure of yourself it can take something out of you. But I’m coming back a lot smarter and stronger.”
Now smarter and stronger, he still feels his name has not been tarnished. Due to the extent of the research team he brought together, Berto feels his name is still in a good light even with the positive test on record. “The only thing that we know about it was contamination of basically whatever from everyday vitamins that we take but it wasn’t an enhancement whatsoever. We spent a lot of money to get the right scientist and the right legal team to find out what it was. It was ridiculous to them that they found ridiculously small traces of the contamination. I’m glad we did what we had to do to get to the bottom of it,” explained Berto.
At the end of the day, Andre Berto still feels testing is needed. Even more so, awareness from fighters and education from the administrators of the test is also needed. “At the end of the day, in every sport, we should continue to test, it’s a tough sport. There are a lot of people that try and do what they do to get the edge. I believe more testing is better to get to the bottom of the situation. We also need to educate these guys what we can to put in and out of our body. Not even drugs, even the food that we eat now can cause a positive test. So I think VADA and USADA needs to educate the fighters on what you can and cannot put inside your body.”
For Full Audio of this interview click here: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/thaboxingvoiceradioshow/2012/11/05/andre-berto-mikael-zewski-jamie-kavanagh
