First the Undercard: Berto vs. Trabant

Preliminary to Paul Williams' first WBO defense against Carlos Quintana, imported German opponent Michel Trabant faced off against undefeated prospect Andre Berto. A lot of talking was done before the fight began about the solid career Trabant had in Germany before coming to the US to try himself out against Berto and see how he could do in front of an American audience. Trabant came into the fight with a solid record of 40-2-1 (17) and on paper he would have appeared to be a tough test for the young prospect.

Once the fight began, however, one couldn't help but remember why there was a time when European fighters were scoffed at by the American boxing press and no European contender who had never faced an American contender was taken seriously. Trabant fought like a European fighter, in the worst sense of the stereotype. Many Europeans have overcome that stereotype and shown they can compete with and beat the best American talent, but Trabant clearly isn't on that list. He stood up straight, all his defense was block and parry, and he wasn't busy. Trabant spent the fight looking for openings that weren't there, and never did enough punching to create his own openings. He appeared unable to cope with Berto's hand speed, or at least unwilling to try. I gave him the first round for a clean, effective jab landed consistently while Berto missed flashier combinations, but after that I couldn't find a reason to give him a single round.

Andre Berto looked very good against Trabant, but it's difficult to tell how much of that was because Trabant was very easy for a fighter like Berto to look good against. Berto showed off his hand speed, showed an ability to create angles, and showed an ability to use his hand speed and those angles to create openings to land punches. His advantages appear best suited to a boxer-counterpuncher style, but against a fighter who forced him to be a boxer-puncher he showed himself quite able to do so. After missing most of his shots in the first round, due to Trabant's block and parry defense, he used a better job of moving his attack faster than Trabant's defensive moves and punching from angles to land some shots through and around Trabant's gloves and arms. He also landed some very hard shots that moved Trabant even though they were blocked. He won the first round solidly. In the third, I felt he landed such hard shots and Trabant offered so little reply that I gave Berto a 10-8 round. His momentum continued into the fourth round and he once again won it solidly.

The fifth round may actually have been Trabant's best round, as far as getting his jab into a rhythm and throwing punches off it went. He was at his most aggressive, had some good moments, showed he could hook to the body off a jab upstairs, and landed some decent rights. On two occasions he landed three punch combos while Berto was on the ropes. Unfortunately, Berto kept his own efficient and successful work going and was able to do well enough between and after Trabant's moments of success that I called the fifth round even.

The sixth was a replay of round three, with Berto landing good clean shots without any effective reply from Trabant. It was clear he was hurting his man and Trabant didn't want to be in the ring with him, and Berto's rhythm was unbroken throughout the round. I felt the best way to score the round, again, was 10-8.

Evidently, Trabant and his corner agreed. After the sixth round, they informed the referee they were done. Berto's record moved to 21-0 (18) as he picked up the TKO win. I had the score 59-54, Berto at the time Trabant retired in his corner.

Trabant, clearly, isn't going to be much more than a solid trial horse against American welterweights at this point. Judging from his jab and his tight defense, however, I think he could upset a prospect unable to show him angles and flash fast punches past his gloves. He should stay in the U.S. a bit and maybe work with some American trainers. If he could learn to let his hands go, he might be more effective.

Berto looked very good, as I said before. His hands are fast, he's able to quickly from different angles to create openings even in the face of tight defense, and he has good pop. It didn't look like he was particularly hard for Trabant to hit when the German decided to throw punches, but he didn't appear to be at all bothered by the punches Trabant threw. HBO billed him as the '#1 welterweight in the world', but whatever alphabet gang gave him that ranking is a touch premature. He's a prospect, a great prospect but clearly a work in process.

My only difficult in the fight was tuning out the HBO commentators. Bob Papa was clearly pushing the HBO fighter in the first round, praising Berto as he missed punches and ignoring Trabant's tight defense and effective jab. Fortunately for everyone, the fight soon evolved into the one Papa was calling. I can't help but wonder, though, if Papa would have changed his tune or not if Trabant had continued to be effective after the first.