Andre Berto with his trainer Virgil Hunter at the final Mayweather vs. Berto press conference in Las Vegas (Photo: Naoki Fukuda)

By Chris Robinson

During any notable fight week in Las Vegas, you are sure to hear your share of sound bites from various boxing luminaries as the days pass by.

We are just three days removed from Saturday night’s Floyd Mayweather vs. Andre Berto clash and while you can’t exactly sense any animosity coming from either side, there has been plenty of verbiage to take in the past few days out here in Las Vegas.

Hustle Boss caught up with Berto’s trainer Virgil Hunter following Wednesday’s final press conference inside of the MGM Grand. Hunter has had a realistic yet upbeat approach to the fight, as his charge is a heavy underdog heading in, and he spoke with various outlets about the challenge ahead.

One thing that Hunter has seemed to disagree with is the public’s perception of Berto as a soft touch, as the Haitian-born American fighter has gone just 3-3 in his past six bouts. Hunter sees parallels between Berto and Manny Pacquiao, the man who just fought Mayweather in May.

“If I’m not mistaken, it happened to Manny Pacquiao,” Hunter explained of his fighter’s setbacks. “[Pacquiao] lost to Marquez, lost to Bradley controversially. But Andre Berto isn’t going into this fight waking up two minutes later like Pacquiao. So, if you looked at that situation, when you see the sawdust, the mill is not far away.”

Hunter was also asked to compare the shoulder injury that Berto suffered a few years back to the one Pacquiao claimed to suffer in his loss to Mayweather.

In July of 2013, Berto injured his right shoulder in the second round of his match vs. Jesus Soto Karass before eventually being stopped in the 12th round by the rugged Mexican brawler. Pacquiao, meanwhile, claims to have suffered a torn right rotator cuff sometime during his unanimous decision loss to Mayweather, although it’s been unclear as to the legitimacy of the injury.

“I don’t think he ever told him he had an injury,” Hunter said of Pacquiao’s situation. “If he came back to the corner and said ‘I have an injury’, I haven’t seen it. I know Andre had an injury, because I saw when it happened. He no longer used his arm the rest of the fight. He couldn’t. He had completely tore [his shoulder].”

Check below for the full interview with Hunter.

Chris Robinson