Dan Rafael of espn.com is reporting that former world champions Victor Ortiz & Andre Berto will rematch their 2011 Fight of the Year candidate on either January 28th or February 11th with this bout landing on Showtime rather than HBO where the first bout was televised.
Lou DiBella, Berto’s promoter, would not confirm the figures, but acknowledged that Showtime had bought the fight and was the highest bidder.
“Showtime’s offer was the highest in the marketplace,” DiBella told ESPN.com on Thursday night. “It’s good to know that they’re in the game and that a fight of this quality had interest from both networks. Competition in the marketplace is a good thing. As Andre Berto’s promoter, I am very grateful for the loyalty and investment HBO made in Berto over the years, and I know Andre is also.”
“The first fight was one of the best, most crowd-pleasing fights of the year and it’s the best thing for boxing fans that it’s going to happen again in 2012,” DiBella said. “This fight represents a good start to the year for Showtime, although I believe HBO made a good faith offer to get the fight.”
“This is something the people want and I want as well,” Berto told ESPN.com on Thursday night. “I gave up a world title for this to happen. You know how serious this is for me. I’ve been with HBO my whole career but Showtime stepped up to the plate money-wise to have it. Surprised HBO didn’t, but this is a business. So I am just looking forward (to) bringing the people the best fight possible to jump off the 2012 year with a bang.”
