Champions Andre Berto and Celestino Caballero Added to Marquez vs Katsidis Undercard

Added on Oct 07, 2010 by Brian Blake in

Boxing

Boxing fans have a bit more to be thankful for as it was recently announced that Andre Berto, along with current unified super bantamweight Celestino Caballero have been added to the undercard of Juan Manuel Marquez’ upcoming title defense against Michael Katsidis during weekend following Thanksgiving Day.

“What was already a great card has been made sensational with the addition of Berto vs. Hernandez and Caballero vs. Litzau,” said Lou DiBella, President of DiBella Entertainment which promotes Berto and Caballero. “Just like in the main event, these two fights will showcase world champions in life-and-death battles. With so much at stake for everyone in the ring, this card gives boxing fans plenty to be thankful for.”

Andre Berto (26-0, 20 KOs) will be putting his title on the line when he takes on the eleventh ranked challenger in Freddie Hernandez.

Berto picked up the vacant WBC Welterweight Championship back in 2008 when he utilized his superior hand speed and skill to gain the upperhand over fellow contender Miguel Angel Rodriguez before unleashing a devastating uppercut to floor his opponent. While Rodriguez beat the count the end was near as Berto dropped him again which prompted referee Laurence Cole to call a halt to the bout.

Since his championship winning effort Berto has successfully defended his title on four occasions. His initial defense resulted in a clear-cut unanimous decision over the much smaller veteran Steve Forbes. That victory was followed by a bout with former champ Luis Collazo in which Berto found himself in trouble early on before settling down to take a controversial unanimous decision win to kick off 2009.

Later that year Berto took on and defeated then junior welterweight champ Juan Urango via unanimous decision in a less than thrilling bout that featured more holding than hitting. Berto was expected to begin 2010 with the biggest bout of his career against Sugar Shane Mosley but was forced to withdraw from the fight to deal with personal issues stemming from the fallout from the earthquake that rocked Haiti.

Berto eventually returned to the ring in his latest outing taking place in April of this year against former champion Carlos Quintana in what is arguably Berto’s greatest performance of recent memory as he stopped Quintana via technical knockout in the eighth round.

His opponent in Freddy Hernandez (29-1, 20 KOs) looks to continue his recent momentum and parlay it into a championship winning result. The nine year veteran is relatively unknown in the United States despite holding wins over fighters such as Ben Tackie, Noberto Bravo and Demarcus “Chop Chop” Corley. His latest fourth round knockout win against the once promising Mike Anchondo earned him the WBC Latino Welterweight title.

In what will most likely open up the HBO Championship Boxing telecast, IBF and WBA Super Bantamweight Champion Celestino Caballero opts to leave his titles behind as he takes jumps up yet another division to take on super featherweight contender Jason “The American Boy” Litzau in a ten round contest.

Caballero (34-2, 23 KOs) is currently riding a 15 fight win streak dating back to 2004. Caballero was awarded the WBA interim super bantamweight crown the following year when Yober Ortego via unimous decision. He became a unified champion after stopping Steve Moliter in the fourth round nearly two years ago.

After two defenses of his unified crown Caballero elected to put his title reign on hold to test the waters in the featherweight division. Caballero had an easy night as he knocked Yordan down in the second round en route to a lopsided twelve round unanimous decision.

The HBO televised triple header will be aired live beginning at 9:45 ET/6:45 PT from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada and will be a joint promotional effort by Golden Boy Promotions, Gary Shaw Productions and DiBella Entertainment.