Are Andre Berto's Days as a top rank fighter now over?

It was just over five years ago when Andre Berto landed the WBC Welterweight title that Floyd Mayweather had vacated following his two-year hiatus from boxing after his defeat of Ricky Hatton in December 2007. By defeating his opponent, the Mexican, Miguel Angel Rodriguez, by way of technical knockout in the seventh round of the contest at the FedExForum Arena in Memphis, Tennessee, Berto was predicted to become a dominating force in the 147-pound division.

Berto's elevation seemed destined for greatness. Growing up in Winter Haven, Florida, a city prided for its history of producing successful sportsmen such as the four-time NBA all-star and Olympic gold medallist, Otis Birdsong, three-time Olympic gold-medal swimmer, Rowdy Gaines and Olympic gold medal sprinter Kenneth Brockenburr, the script was made for Berto to become another successful athlete from the city. Like many African-Americans and Hispanic-Americans who enter boxing, Berto, nicknamed 'The Beast', was reared in a working-class family, one of seven children to Dieseul and Wilnise Berto, both of whom had migrated from Haiti in the 1970s. 

Hailing from a family embellished with MMA fighters, his father Dieseul competed in mixed-martial arts in Japan, his older brother James, dubbed the 'Little Tiger' was the former Real Fighting Championship Lightweight Champion whilst his younger sister, Revelina 'Nana' Berto, was a previously undefeated mixed martial arts contender for Real Fighting Championship, Andre, was supposed to be the exceptional anomaly to all of them.

Berto has always had raw talent in abundance. Blessed with lightning hand speed, astounding athleticism and explosive punching power, Berto entered his fight with Rodriguez boasting an unblemished record. Winning all of his 21 bouts, eighteen of them coming by way of knockout,  defeating creditable fighters such as David Estrada (who had been in the ring with boxing legend 'Sugar' Shane Mosley and the tenacious Puerto Rican, Kermit Cintron) and Cosme Rivera by technical knockout and unanimous decision respectively, en route to his fight with Rodriquez.

The Rodriguez fight duel followed the same pattern. Berto quickly asserting control of the contest with his incisively rapid left-hand jabs and one-two combinations, exerting his power on a bigger welterweight in Rodriguez who stands at 5 ft 11. The then 24-year old was ahead in most rounds according to the three judges at the time before Berto closed the show with a mortifying uppercut to the jaw of his Mexican opponent early on in the seventh round before the referee, Laurence Cole, stopped the fight later on in the round due to the unforgiving hammering the Floridian had inflicted on Rodriguez, to become world champion.  

But despite his fledgling career in a welterweight division that had included fine boxers such as Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao, Miguel Cotto, Antonio Margarito, Zab Judah and Paul Williams to name a few, doubts over his defense and his seemingly one-dimensional approach in all his bouts had always been a concern despite his imposing power and tremendous athleticism. 

Queries over Berto's defence had initially registered after his wins over Estrada and Rivera and these doubts continued after unrewarding victories over good, but not formidable adversaries in Steve Forbes, Luiz Collazo and Carlos Quintana to preserve his unbeaten record and retain his WBC Welterweight title.

Then, on what was suppose to be the biggest fight of his career, Andre Berto was scheduled to clash Shane Mosley in a unification bout for the WBA and WBC Welterweight titles on 30th January 2010. In what would have been one of the highest contested fights of that calender year, Berto pulled out twelve days before the fight after the catastrophic and distressingly ruinous events that occurred as a result of the Haitian earthquake that was measured 7.0 on the Richter scale, leaving hundreds of thousands civilians dead, including several of Berto's family members, therefore leaving Berto "mentally and physically exhausted" and with no choice but to withdraw from his bout with Mosley. Fortunately, his sister, Naomi, and her daughter, Jessica, survived the disaster, though they too were left homeless.   

Berto returned to the ring registering the first round stoppage of Freddy Hernandez. However, in his next contests, Berto came up short against proficient southpaws Victor Ortiz (a fight that was named The Ring magazine's 'Fight of the Year' for 2011 with four ruled knockdowns) and Robert Guerrero. In these two defeats, Berto's weakness in defense and his one-dimensional 'come-forward' style were badly exposed by Ortiz and Guerrero, both of whom are more elegant welterweight competitors compared to Quintana, Collazo, Forbes and other opponents Berto had dispatched with relative consummate ease. In the Guerrero fight, a grueling match which left Berto with both eyes swollen shut, and Guerrero's right eye closed, Berto adopted the 'shoulder-roll' defense perfected expertly by Floyd Mayweather, to inadequate effect. 

His surprise loss to Mexican, Jesus Soto-Karass, at San Antonio, Texas, on 27th July 2013, is undoubtedly the nadir of his nine-year professional career. Having loss to Ortiz and Guerrero, the pressure was on the Beast to not just emerge triumphant over Soto-Karass, but to do so in a stylish manner that befitted his record. He injured his right shoulder in the fourth round, yet coming into the final round, was leading just about ahead on the scorecards. Fighting with one arm, but only requiring to see out the remaining minute of the bout, Berto's tendency to come forward proved to be his nemesis once again, walking into a left-hand by the Mexican that dropped the Haitian-American, thus ending the fight. Now Berto has three losses in his last four fights.

Despite the ineffectiveness of the shoulder-roll defense against Guerrero, and a new trainer in Virgil Hunter, an expert in defensive coaching, who has reignited Amir Khan's career and has played a major contribution in making unbeaten WBA (Super) and The Ring Super-Middleweight champion, Andre Ward, an accomplished fighter, Berto is in desperate need of Hunter significantly bettering the former's defensive skills and awareness if Berto is to become a force in the Welterweight division again. 

Amir Khan was in a similar position to Berto this time last year losing surprisingly to Danny Garcia, the WBC, WBA (Super) and The Ring Magazine Light-Welterweight Champion, having lossed to Lamont Peterson via a contentious split decision in his previous fight. Nevertheless, Khan put himself back in the talent-rich light-welterweight division with wins over Carlos Molina and Juan Diaz, with a proposed fight against Devon Alexander pencilled in for December this year.  


The problem Berto has is that unlike Khan who is 26 now, age is not on Berto's side. He turns 30 in September, and the appointment of Virgil Hunter did not seem to have any telling difference in terms of eradicating Berto's defensive vulnerabilities. With another lengthy lay-off anticipated due to the injured shoulder he suffered in his disheartening comeback fight with Soto-Karass, it would be interesting to see where Berto goes from here. He remains adamant that he would not retire, but with no marquee boxers expected to fight him unless he makes a remarkable and notable upturn in form, are Andre Berto's days as a top-rank fighter now over? 

Does the injection of money into football clubs by foreign owners always grant success?

"QPR is a raw diamond and hopefully I can contribute into turning it into a diamond". These were the exciting and trusting words of Tony Fernandes upon his arrival at Queens Park Rangers in the summer of 2011. The then Rangers manager Neil Warnock described Fernandes' takeover as a "momentous" occasion for the west London club. QPR had achieved promotion from the Championship three months earlier, going up as champions.

From a business perspective, the takeover of QPR made complete sense for Tony Fernandes. Born in Malaysia, Fernandes was educated at the famed Epsom College for four years before graduating at the London School of Economics in 1987. Standing as the proud owner of Asia's largest low-fare airline, Air Asia, as well as the boss of the Caterham Formula One Racing Team, the deal that enabled the 48-year-old tycoon's increment of QPR seemingly pointed sharply towards a hasty ascent up the Premier League table.

All those optimistic hopes amongst the fans that the club could be transformed into a side competing for a possible Europa League spot as well as a successful run in at least one of the domestic cup competitions this season have proved strikingly contrapositive. Languishing second bottom in the table with a meagre 24 points from 33 games, and seven points away from safety, QPR are almost consigned to facing the ignominy of relegation. Under Fernandes' reign thus far, QPR have had three managers (Warnock, Mark Hughes and the current manager, Harry Redknapp), but more astonishingly, they have signed an incredible twenty-three players within the space of 21 months. Their highest earner, Christopher Samba, signed from the nouveau-riche outfit Anzhi Makhachkala for £12 million, is on an exorbitant £100k a week. These figures illustrates both the embarrassment of riches Rangers have at their disposal but also how alarming it is to find the side in the position they are deeply entrenched in. This prompts the question; does the injection of money into football clubs by foreign owners always grant success?

The case of Portsmouth Football Club suggests it is anything but good. The club had garnered tangible success in the first decade of this century, achieving promotion as winners from what was then known as the First Division (it is now known as the Championship) in, ironically, Harry Redknapp's first season in charge of the South Coast club. In their first three seasons in the Premier League, the club had accomplished finishes of 13th, 16th, and 17th.

In January 2006, Portsmouth was bought by the French-Israeli businessman, Alexandre Gaydamak from Milan Mandaric, who had saved the club from the possible threat of liquidation in 1999, when the club fell into administration. Over the next couple of years, the Fratton Park side went on to sign several England international players including: Peter Crouch, the club's record signing at £11 million, Jermain Defoe, Sol Campbell, Glen Johnson and David James. The acquisition of players of this sort of calibre was rewarded by their triumphant run in the 2008 FA Cup final which concluded in their 1-0 defeat of Cardiff at the New Wembley Stadium, and a subsequent place in the 2008-09 UEFA Cup, where amongst others, they administered a memorable 2-2 draw at home to the second most successful team in European history, Italian giants, A.C. Milan. 

Fortunes changed for 'Pompey' after Redknapp left the club to join Tottenham in October 2008. In May 2009, Gaydamak sold the club to Sulaiman Al Fahim, a big-time operator from the United Arab Emirates. The following season saw Portsmouth littered with a multitude of financial problems. Several of their key players and top earners were sold, the players went two consecutive months without pay, the club were placed into administration for eight months (leading to a deduction of nine points) and their form suffered turbulently culminating in relegation to the Championship. The decline of Portsmouth has been alarming. The two years they spent in England's second tier was met with more worries, both on and off the pitch, with contractual disputes and the team's poor form, aided by a seriously depleted squad coming to the fore. 

Portsmouth is currently positioned 22nd in League One and face a stern battle to avoid the humiliation of relegation for what would be the third time in four seasons. Their squad consists solely of players who have been loaned, or are on short-term and non-contractual terms. The club continues to decline. 

Despite this proposition, the success Chelsea has amassed due to the takeover of foreign owners, suggests that spending plenty of money on a perfectly assembled squad does have its rewards. Extravagant spending in the first years of the Roman Abramovich era was complemented with back-to-back Premier League titles, two League Cups, and an FA Cup. Between 2008 and 2011, Abramovich, expertly nullified the extensive signings made during the Mourinho era with the purchase of players for moderate transfer fees. Under Luiz Felipe Scolari in the 2008-09 season, the club had only spent £24 million with the additions of Jose Bosingwa from FC Porto for £16.2 million and the former Barcelona playmaker Deco for £8 million. In the 2009-10 season, Chelsea spent £23 million on four players and was rewarded with both the Premier League and FA Cup titles. During the close season for the following campaign, Abramovich spent a further £31million before abandoning his restriction of cautious spending in January 2011 with the British record-breaking transfer of Fernando Torres from Liverpool for £50 million and Benfica's David Luiz for £21 million. 

This reluctance to spend excessive amounts of money on players for nearly three years was surely in relation to the UEFA Financial Fair Play Rules which will finally come into effect at the start of next season, this will prevent football clubs from spending more than they earn, which in turn means they avoid the threat of financial meltdown which could affect the long term survival of the team. However, Chelsea's figures in terms of revenue and debts since the Russian billionaire carefully managed his club’s transfer budget for two-and-a half seasons have been impressive. Since 2008, the club has not been faced with any external debt, and the yearly revenues they gather through their kit sponsors, Adidas and Samsung, as well the television money they receive (rising from £39.3 million in the 2006-07 season to £59.4 million in the 2011/12 campaign), continue to improve annually. This has been combined with sustained success throughout Abramovich's tenure. Chelsea have only had three out of ten campaigns without winning any silverware (excluding community shields) since the Russian magnate has been owner of the club.

In Germany, the '50+1' ownership rule, states that a club must retain at least 51% ownership, thus prohibiting foreign businessmen from assuming outright control of any of the country's clubs. This has proved highly successful with regards to the development of numerous young German players from different Bundesliga sides, and the influence it has had on the national team's resurgence as a world force. With the exception of perhaps Bayern Munich, none of the German clubs can boast the economic clout that numerous teams around continental Europe possess. During the winter transfer window for this season, for instance, the expenditure of sides from the Bundesliga was cast at £35.6 million. This, approximately, represents an astounding £93 million windfall compared to the Premier League's staggering expenditure of £128.7 million. The money spent by clubs in Germany's top division during January also represents a £63 million deficit on what teams from Russia's Premier Liga had lavished out on, and a further £33 million in comparison to clubs from Italy's Serie A. 

Out of all the German sides that are labelled the most 'fit and proper', Borussia Dortmund stands out as the most pronounced example. In 2005, Die Schwarzgelben (The Black Yellows), as they are devotedly referred to as, had fallen into bankruptcy, resulting in a 20% pay-cut to all players. Since then, the club has gradually reduced all its debts and has adopted a policy of selling cheap tickets and limiting the clubs season tickets to ensure every one of the city of Dortmund has a chance to see the game, with the away team only allocated 10% of Die Schwarzgelben's 81,000-seater Signal Iduna Park, the largest stadium in Germany. 

An improvement off the pitch has coincided with improvements on the pitch, with Die Schwarzgelben winning two consecutive Bundesliga titles in 2010-11 and 2011-12. Much of this is in relation to the emergence of the young players who have come through the ranks. Mario Gotze, Marco Reus (who returned to Dortmund from Borussia Monchengladbach last summer), Nuri Sahin and Marcel Schmelzer were all groomed at the club and have played a fundamental role in the renaissance of Die Schwarzgelben. This achievements they have experienced at grassroots level has been interspersed with the obtainment of cheap, marquee signings, in the recent past and present. Names such as Robert Lewandowski, Shinji Kagawa, Lucas Barrios, Neven Subotic, Mats Hummels and Lukasz Piszczek, all spring to mind. 

Dortmund are now potentially 180 minutes away from reaching their first Champions League final since their historic 3-1 win over a Juventus side starring Zinedine Zidane in Munich sixteen years ago. Their resurgence as a European heavyweight should act as a constant reminder to all European clubs that progress can be made without the need for substantial investment by foreign owners. In most cases, the injection of money into football teams does benefit the clubs. The investment Abramovich has put into Chelsea and, likewise, Sheikh Mansour at Manchester City has been duly repaid with by success on the field, which is okay. The fortunes of QPR , however, has proven to be an exception to this trend. 
  

Would Daniel Sturridge turn out to be another expensive flop for Liverpool?

The arrival of Daniel Sturridge to Anfield from rivals Chelsea for a fee in the region of £12 million has not been met with an overflow of melodramatics amongst Liverpool supporters, jostling each other outside the Melwood training ground in pursuit of pictures amongst the scrim of photographers also queuing frantically to capture photos of the latest marquee signing. 

When watching him play it is thoroughly comprehensible why the acquisition of Sturridge has been met with a sense of unpledged affection from both Chelsea and Liverpool fans. Though his talent is undoubted, Sturridge has the frustrating tendency to mix his combination of amazing trickery and exceptional footwork with wayward long distance shooting and wasteful finishing, especially when a pass to a team-mate situated in a better position is on, much to the infuriation of his coaches, teammates and supporters, respectively.

 The signing of the Birmingham-born attacker signals the Reds' first foray into this month's transfer window but many of the club's most circumspect  followers are inevitably pondering the worth of the former Manchester City trainee. While Liverpool are in desperate need of more striking options to ease the Herculean task they have often been provided with by their talismanic forward Luis Suarez so far in this campaign, at £12 million, the purchase of Sturridge represents a sizable outlay of the funds supposedly afforded to the  manager, Brendan Rodger's budget. Therefore, it is only natural for fans to feel restrained over the transfer having witnessed the signings of overpriced British talents before. Andy Carroll, Stewart Downing and Jordan Henderson joined Liverpool within seven months of each other for a combined transfer fee of approximately £91 million, during Kenny Dalglish's ill-fated second reign at the club last season. All three have been disappointing so far, despite the recent improvement in performances from Downing and Henderson.  The Merseyside club simply do not need another profitless addition to the squad. 

Sturridge joins Liverpool with the same reputation as another underachiever who signed for the Reds, Ryan Babel. The latter was signed as a gifted 21-year-old from Ajax by Rafa Benitez for a similar cost of £11.5 million back in the summer of 2007. He was touted as the next Thierry Henry. Nonetheless, moments of brilliance from the Dutchman was repeatedly entwined with the needless squandering of ball possession, profligacy and a reluctance to work hard for the team, aspects often associated with Brendan Rodgers' latest recruit.

Liverpool could do without Sturridge overdoing intricate tricks, and speculative efforts from thirty yards when a pass to Luis Suarez or an onrushing Steven Gerrard is on. Nor do they want a squeamish individual in the starting eleven, who appears discouraged and uneager to complement the endeavour and industry so often characterised by the Uruguayan, as well as the captain Gerrard, midfielders Joe Allen, Lucas Leiva and the rising starlet Raheem Sterling. It was this absent-minded mannerism that prompted Roberto Di Matteo not to include the attacker in most of Chelsea's important fixtures that climaxed in FA Cup glory over the Reds and, most memorably, European glory in Munich last season. A team in which its success depended heavily on team effort and work rate.   

Sturridge made his league debut for Manchester City as an 18-year old substitute against Reading in February 2007, nearly six years ago. Since then, the striker's only period of consistent success in his career came when he was loaned out by the then Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti to Bolton Wanderers in the second half of the 2009-10 season where he managed eight goals in twelve games for Owen Coyle's side. Now at the age of 23, it is still hoped that comparable accomplishments are to be recounted. 

 In which position of the three attackers Rodgers intends to deploy Sturridge in the Northern Irishman's favoured 4-3-3 formation is anyone's guess. Having been deployed in the right of a front three during Andre Villas-Boas' short period in charge of Chelsea last season, where it finally seemed as though the forward was finally showing signs of maturing, Sturridge had amassed thirteen league goals in thirty appearances. So far this season, the forward has made fourteen appearances scoring a paltry two goals. This time last year he had featured in  twenty-two of Chelsea's games and had ten goals. It was the skill and his propensity to expect the unexpected that made Sturridge a constant menace, bamboozling full-backs with deft touches, flashy flicks and sublime step-overs. 

Despite the success Sturridge had sustained playing out wide, the striker, similar to his England international teammate Theo Walcott at Arsenal, has a preference of playing as the main striker. Rodgers has already refuted claims that Sturridge's contract states that he has to play through the middle insisting that no new signings will specify in what position they will play. While Sturridge certainly possesses the raw talent and is capable of playing in the central striking role, he does not necessarily boast the attributes needed to lead the line in the system Liverpool adopt. Sturridge, like the claims made about Walcott lacks the all-round footballing intelligence to play in a lone role in a 4-3-3 formation, in which your are required to create and score goals. His hold-up play and link-up play with the midfield can be found wanting as was apparent when playing for Great Britain in the Olympics last summer although he scored two goals in five appearances. Sturridge also lacks the ability to find clever space in the final third of the pitch in order to get himself into a decent position to score or incite centre-backs out of position by coming deep to collect the ball or moving into channels, subsequently enabling forward thinking midfielders to advance into the resultant free space. This is an area of the game in which very few can better Luis Suarez at.

The data in terms of the amount of goals and assists Sturridge has totalled thus far in his career in the Premier League gives an even more damning verdict in terms of the Englishman's inconsistency.

In the 21 league games he made as a Manchester City youngster, Sturridge scored five goals providing three assists. This meant that on average he scored 0.24 goals and set-up 0.14 during his time at Eastlands. During his three-and-a-half year stint with Chelsea, he appeared in 63 league fixtures, finishing with thirteen goals and seven assists in total, which equates to 0.21 goals a game and 0.11 assists. At Bolton, his most productive spell up to now, Sturridge netted eight in twelve games at an average of 0.75 a match. However, he failed to supply his teammates with any goals during his time on loan at the Reebok Stadium.

If these statistics were to even itself out over the course of a season, Sturridge would have scored ten goals, further contributing to his team's cause with four assists at an average rate of 0.27 goals per game and 0.1 assists over the same period too. These figures best applies to that of a flamboyant winger compared to that of a twenty-goal a season striker. It would also relieve some of the burden placed on Suarez too, compared to that of Stewart Downing who accumulated no goals or assists in the last campaign and Raheem Sterling, whom despite showing a lot of promise, is still far from the finished article.  

It is still hoped that Sturridge is to reach the peak of his powers. As we all know he is not a bad player despite the telling figures. In addition to his involvement in the England national team setup, at club level he has one Premier League honour, two FA cups- and most luminously a Champions League medal to his repertoire. The case could be made that if he was not from England, say he came from France, Italy or Brazil for instance, the assumption could be made that all the appeasement is the sign of a great player who has not entered the pinnacle stage of his career yet.

Realistically, for that to happen, his time at Anfield has to be a potent one. Upon the official announcement of his signing, Rodgers stated that "We are bringing in a player who knows he has to perform if he wants to be at one of the biggest clubs in the world and this is probably his last chance". This view was aptly reinforced by Steven Gerrard who conceded that Sturridge can have "no excuses" if he was not to execute his prodigious talent during his stay at the home of the five time European Cup winners. Manchester City and Chelsea had both signed Sturridge believing that it will only be a matter of time before he developed into the player everyone had once heralded him as. Now that he has joined Liverpool, it is imperative that he overcomes the disappointments of the past or risk becoming another expensive flop for Liverpool. Whether he has the mentality to succeed at the most decorated club in England and win over his staunch critics is another story.