Opinion: Did Mayweather Influence Berto's Withdrawal from Mosley Fight?

For lack of bankable and winnable opponents, Floyd Mayweather, Jr. may have influenced Andre Berto to withdraw from his signed contract to fight Shane Mosley. He may have done this to land a fight with Mosley and be assured of support from boxing fans.

The withdrawal arrangement is considered timely as the Haiti tragedy comes as a good excuse for Berto to announce his decision to back out 10 days before the scheduled fight. It is not far-fetched if the Mayweather camp offered Berto some kind of compensation to cover his training and other expenses in exchange for his withdrawal.

A comment from a DJ reader reads:

For good measure, Mosley was offered millions in compensation to take a dive to make sure Floyd gets to keep his lossless record. Remember, Mosley, Mayweather and Berto are under Golden Boy's tutelage and what they're doing here is strictly business. They will try to sell this Mayweather-Mosley fight as something legit but, watch out for telltale signs of 'scripted' fight. Mark my word: this fight is a charade.

Evidently, a Mayweather-Mosley fight will make good on both pay-per-view and gate receipts, though not as attractive as the failed Pacquiao-Mayweather match originally set for March 13 in Las Vegas. Foremost in the mind of boxing fans is the pre-fight expenses that have been poured into the promotional campaign of the Mosley-Berto fight, which is less than two weeks away from its play date of January 30.

The commenter in the recent DJ article has a good point. He thinks that Mosley, Berto and Mayweather, in collaboration with Golden Boy Promotions, will take the millions of boxing fans for a roller coaster ride by promoting the match-up as a legitimate fight when in reality the fight has been pre-arranged to keep Mayweather's zero loss record.

The commenter seems to be suggesting that big money changed hands in the arrangement that led to Berto's withdrawal from the fight that is supposed to happen in less than 11 days.

(original article appeared @ Digital Journal )