Andre Berto vs Andriy Kotelnik likely for Nov despite HBO accepting Mike Jones

Promoter Lou DiBella and HBO are trying to put together a fall fight for welterweight titlist Andre Berto, which would take place in November.

Two names tossed around for Berto are junior welterweights Marcos Maidana (HBO's preference) and Andriy Kotelnik, whom promoter Don King is pushing hard for. However, Maidana rejected the bout Thursday, preferring to remain at 140 pounds. HBO has also approved Mike Jones, a true welterweight, for the fight, but there is some reticence about the match on the Berto side. The card probably will also feature featherweight Celestino Caballero. A tripleheader including junior middleweight titlist Sergei Dzinziruk is also possible.

One issue in finishing a Berto fight is that the WBC has ordered him to face mandatory challenger Selcuk Aydin, a fight Berto's camp and HBO aren't interested in, meaning his belt could be in jeopardy.

Aydin wants the fight, saying, "I have been waiting for more than a year to face Berto. I want to prove that I am one of the best welterweight fighters in the world today."

His co-promoter, Ahmet Öner, also wants to make the fight, be it in America or Aydin's native Turkey, where Berto has no intention of going.

"Berto is one of the biggest names in U.S. boxing today. He is one of the faces of HBO," said Öner, who signed Aydin to a co-promotional deal with Don King this month. "This is the chance Selcuk has been waiting and fighting for. I'm sure it will be a hell of a fight."

Mandatory or not, DiBella said the fight is unlikely to happen.

"HBO doesn't want Aydin, so it's not going to happen right now," he said. "There's no market for the fight and no American network is going to Turkey. Berto is not going to Turkey. Of course, we don't want Andre stripped, so we'll see what we can do make sure that doesn't happen. I'll call Ahmet. I have no problem with him. He's doing his job to stand up for his fighter, but my job is also to stand up for mine and to get him paid and televised. Aydin's last performance against Jo Jo Dan didn't help him."

Aydin scraped by to win a controversial split decision against Dan in Turkey in June.

DiBella's talks with HBO on an opponent for Berto center on Andriy Kotelnik, another King fighter, who performed well on HBO in a tight decision loss to junior welterweight titlist Devon Alexander on Aug. 7.

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Berto's side turns down the welterweight possibilities to try to fight junior welters. Typical

captainanddew wrote:

Berto's side turns down the welterweight possibilities to try to fight junior welters. Typical

...true..its blah blah blah..there is not market for berto either in a live gate..he needs hbo money..afraid of jones huh.

Dan said in his chat it was Al Haymon who doesn't want Berto to face Mike Jones.

This is so stupid. Just fight people in your own division.

Who the hell does Berto think he is Floyd Mayweather? If your going to fight a 140 at least fight the best, not someone who is coming off a loss. I dont understand why HBO waste their money on him anyway.

None of us understand why HBO has wasted their money on Berto. He can't draw fans. His fights have been against overmatched fighters. His best opponent was Collazo and alot of people (me included) think he lost the fight. He isn't going to be an elite fighter, but they think they can make him into one by hyping him.

Yeah i though he lost that fight to Collazo as well. I mean I will give him credit, he has amazing speed, but he has no idea how to use it. Needs a better trainer imo.

Fuck YESSSSS! On Virusscene they reported HBO dusted off Kotelnik as a possible opponent (according to Don King himself). Theyre pushing Berto to fight either Maidana or Jones. As we know, maidana doesnt want to move up, so I think Mike Jones is our man to fight him despite team Berto not wanting any part of him. On ESPN, I wrote Berto fighting a Kotelnik was a mismatch and they would be overpaying for no reason. It seems they read my post lol

Diego408 wrote:

Fuck YESSSSS! On Virusscene they reported HBO dusted off Kotelnik as a possible opponent (according to Don King himself). Theyre pushing Berto to fight either Maidana or Jones. As we know, maidana doesnt want to move up, so I think Mike Jones is our man to fight him despite team Berto not wanting any part of him. On ESPN, I wrote Berto fighting a Kotelnik was a mismatch and they would be overpaying for no reason. It seems they read my post lol

Thank god id love to see Mike Jones beat up Berto.

Berto is one of the fighters I dislike a great deal. Everything about him just rubs me the wrong way.