Cornelius "K9" Bundrage turns down Andre Berto fight

BoxingScene.com was advised by Andre Berto's promoter, Lou DiBella, that there is currently no interest in a fight with Selcuk Aydin (20-0, 15KOs). On Monday, the WBC ordered Berto (26-0, 20KOs) to defend his welterweight title against Aydin, who won the WBC's silver title with a controversial June decision over Ionut "Jo-Jo" Dan. DiBella and Aydin's co-promoters, Don King and Ahmet Öner of Arena Box, have until September 17 to reach a deal before the fight heads to a purse bid.

DiBella says the fight is close to impossible to make because HBO has no interest in approving Aydin as an opponent for Berto's next fight.

"HBO doesn't care about Aydin. And Berto's next fight will be on HBO," DiBella told BoxingScene.com. "And I just watched Aydin's fight with "Jo Jo" Dan and he didn't do any favors for himself with that performance. You can even make an argument that he didn't win the fight. Nobody knows Aydin and nobody cares."

DiBella would like to place Berto in an HBO televised tripleheader on October 2, but sources have informed BoxingScene that Berto's return may possibly get pushed to a date in November.

Former 140-pound champion Andriy Kotelnik still appears to be a frontrunner to get Berto. I've been told WBA 154-pound champion Cornelius Bundrage turned down the opportunity to fight Berto. Bundrage also turned down a hometown battle with Ronald Hearns, which is a big fight in Detroit.

King promotes Kotelnik, and co-promotes Aydin. Don't be surprised if King makes a deal for Aydin to step aside in order for a Berto-Kotelnik fight to move forward.

http://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=30125

Dibella i think sometimes gets too much credit from boxing fans. He's done nothing really to try to build up Berto. If it wasnt for HBO no one would care about Berto. Outside of boxing fans no one knows who Berto is. He really cant sell tickets or bring viewers to HBO.

DiBella gets credit because he's not a scheming scumbag like Arum,King,Shaw,Goosen etc. I do agree he could do more to promote Berto but that hardly makes him a really bad promoter, especially with what he's done with his other fighters.

Bundrage sounds like a fuck up wins a belt and turns down a tough loss in Berto and a victory in Hearns
i knew he was dumb as shit

what has Dibella done with his other fighters?


JT was the only one he really had who had any real mainstream success.

Birdofthad wrote:

Bundrage sounds like a fuck up wins a belt and turns down a tough loss in Berto and a victory in Hearns
i knew he was dumb as shit

I think it was Steward who turned down the Hearns fight. I know this is boxing but you think Steward wants to train a guy to beat the son of his HOF fighter?

good point slick didnt realize Bundrage was with K9

SlickMoneyXL wrote:

what has Dibella done with his other fighters?


JT was the only one he really had who had any real mainstream success.

He's just guided Sergio Martinez onto HBO and to the Middleweight championship, and Lou also got Pauli Malignaggi HBO spots and a shots against Cotto and Hatton.

can i say one thing HBO should give Aydin a fucking chance let Berto keep his title

no one knew who the hell Azumah Nelson was till he got his chance and the same goes for alot of other fighters

HBO FUCKING SUCKS NOW A DAYS

Yet HBO still wouldnt give Sergio a date unless he fought Paul.

SlickMoneyXL wrote:

Yet HBO still wouldnt give Sergio a date unless he fought Paul.

HBO for once was actually trying to do the right thing by giving the fans the fight they wanted, once Paul started his silly demands HBO agreed to the Angulo fight.

sergio is fighting Angulo???

god boxing is killing itself if true

Birdofthad wrote:

can i say one thing HBO should give Aydin a fucking chance let Berto keep his title

no one knew who the hell Azumah Nelson was till he got his chance and the same goes for alot of other fighters

HBO FUCKING SUCKS NOW A DAYS

Or who Manny Pacquiao was.

this report is getting to be bi weekly.a fighter turning down a title fight or a great payday..this nonsence which has been going on for a while most certainly is one of the defining points of this era..fighters fight.thats what there supposed to do..claims of hbo dont want this fight cause fighter A dont draw viewers..pay them less or say screw you..maybe berto and other fighters like williams angulo would find out what there worth when they get paid there cut of the live gate only...hey it only will be 50 times less then what hbos paying you..example if williams turns hbo and martinez down for a fight dont penilize martinez..take another fight for him show it and pay him a little less..tell williams your out of our loop for 2 years.showtime follow suit...he will beg for a friday nite fight after seeing his share of a live gate is about 7000 dollars...sorry this DOES define this era a lot and the majority of the fighters..add haye valuez and others to the nooo show in the ring.....excuses excuses..the list of the excuses makes war and peace look like a short story..

I think K9 and Manny want some of the names at 154 instead of Berto

DiBella should just put one of his guys in there w/Berto -- Cintron or Randall Bailey please!

HBO has created a monster

Berto has to fight on HBO because no one goes to watch him fight live and showtime isn't going to pay him the ridiculous amount of money he believes he deserves. So now Berto and HBO are stuck together. Might as well just make HBO his promoter of record because it is a de facto situation at this point.

I agree dmar...