It was an early birthday present for Andre Berto in the opening bout on SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING, with the former welterweight world champion bouncing back from a lengthy layoff and shoulder surgery with a 10-round unanimous decision victory over Steve Upsher.
The bout was scored 99-91 by all three judges.
Berto, who turns 31 on Sunday, showed no lingering signs of discomfort following after nearly 14 months out of the ring after suffering a shoulder injury in July, 2013 against Jesus Soto Karass.
Working for just the second fight with defensive specialist Virgil Hunter, Berto (29-3, 22 KOs) came out from the opening bell with his familiar aggressive attack. Upsher (24-4-1, 6 KOs), who was moving up from 140 pounds, had his moments, but Berto’s power and accuracy were the difference as the former champ landed 61 percent of his power shots.
“I’ve been off for a while but everything fell into place pretty well,” Berto said. “I definitely wanted to get the rounds in. After the first round I felt like I could hit him whenever I wanted to. Virgil has been making sure my jab was on point and my boxing skills were on point. I’ve always had power and speed, but he’s been making me stick to the boxing skills a bit more.
“The welterweight division is wide open and there are a lot of options out there. I’d definitely like to fight some of the guys that I took Ls (losses) from. I appreciate those ass-whoopings I got but now it’s my time to get mine.”
