It was five years ago when Andre Berto was regarded as the possible future of the welterweight division. He was unbeaten and tearing through the ranks, feasting on quality opposition en route to capturing the vacant WBC title. He defended it five times before he ran into Victor Ortiz, and suddenly his star began to fall.
Most expected the Florida native to run roughshod over Ortiz, who had previously quit mid-fight against Marcos Maidana and had just come off a draw with Lamont Peterson. But Ortiz took the fight to Berto, forced him into a brawl that wound up being the fight of the year by most boxing outlets.