Andre Berto has retained his WBC welterweight title after scoring a unanimous decision against Luis Collazo.
Former Hatton for loses title shot
Andre Berto retained his WBC welterweight title on Saturday night after scoring a unanimous decision against former world champion Luis Collazo in Biloxi, Mississippi.
The judges scored the contest 114-113, 114-113, 116-111 in favour of the 25-year-old, who took the last round to improve his record to 24-0.
"I knew I had to win the last round," Berto said. "I had to bite down and show everybody I had a beast in me. I had to go get it. It was a close call. He banged it out with me."
Collazo connected with a left to the face barely a minute into the fight but the champion soon answered with a right to the chin.
Referee Keith Hughes deducted a point from Berto for holding in the fourth round and southpaw Collazo continued to hold the advantage until the seventh.
However, the bout started to move Berto's way when the challenger's punching pace started to ebb.
Having himself suffered a cut over his right eye following a clash of heads in the fifth, Berto opened a gash over Collazo's left eye with a left jab in the seventh.
He then began moving and working on Collazo's body to swing momentum in his favour.
Although both fighters were obviously tiring in the later rounds, they nevertheless traded blows toe-to-toe.
Fatigue caused Berto to fall over backwards in the 10th round, while Collazo fell forward on to his knees with 37 seconds remaining in the last round.
Berto recovered sufficiently to throw more punches in the 12th and final round and although they did not stop Collazo, they were sufficient to take the decision.
"We had a hard pace through the whole fight," Collazo said. "We left it all in the ring in the last round and he pulled out the win."
Berto stopped Mexico's Miguel Angel Rodriguez last June to take the WBC crown, which had been vacated by Floyd Mayweather Jnr.
He defended the title last September with a unanimous decision over American Steve Forbes.
Collazo won the WBA version of the crown with a split decision over Jose Antonio Rivera in 2005.
However, he lost it to Ricky Hatton by unanimous decision the following year.
