ANDRE BERTO: THE MAN BEHIND THE BEAST
By G. Leon

GL: It sounds like my dude is getting a haircut, I hear the clippers vibrating as they touch up those Tampa Bay waves. Besides that, what's good Berto? "Everything's good. Right now I'm out here in Atlanta showing support to a few friends of mine doing some charity events. I just got finished doing my third annual amputee charity golf event in Orlando last week. I'm about to get ready to jump to camp this weekend."

GL: What seperates Andre Berto from the rest of the up and comers in boxing?

Andre Berto: "Oh man, definitely my tenacity and hunger to just achieve so much and stay humble. I envisioned all of this happening since I been a kid and I just feel there's no way for me to be comfortable. I feel like I have to work harder and I feel like I always have to improve on something. I won't be satisified until I finish with the game. I could sit back and admire my work when I'm done, but I still really haven't done anything yet. I think it's very important to stay focused in this business. When you're winning people come out of the woodwork and they want to be your best friend and sometimes you get stuck on that hype. Your feet kind of leave the ground a little bit, but I have people around me to keep me grounded. I have my father, and there's definitely things he left in my head. There's just so many things I want to accomplish. I got a crazy imagination and you're going to see."

GL: What's the toughest hardship you've had to overcome to get to this point?

AB: "We're going to let the people know who I am with these interviews. Basically it started growing up in a troubled neighborhood, kind of like other people, having parents who are immigrants from Haiti who had to struggle to get where they're at. My father got into a serious car accident in 1997 and it left him in a coma for eight months. I've had to overcome so much, going to the trials and getting disqualified off the US team and doing what I had to do to go to the Olympic games and represent Haiti just to achieve my dream. There was so much I had to do to get to this point, I wouldn't let anything that happened to me break my spirits."

GL: Is it difficult to stay level headed when you're consistently getting psychological blowjobs?

AB: (laughs very. very hard) "Nah, because I understand the game. I understand when you're on top what comes with that and I understand that it'll quickly leave you once you get too stuck on your own hype, that's when you get knocked out, that's when you get in trouble. I understand why people gravitate towards me, I understand that I do something that a lot of other people are not able to do and they admire what I do. A lot of people don't understand that and think people are getting at them just because it's me. I understand and I keep a level head about real easy because I haven't done enough to satisfy me yet."

"We're going to do this every other day, words of wisdom from G. Leon to Andre Berto, by the end of the this, other fighters are going to want their series, but this is beginning with me Andre Berto. By the time the next fight comes these people are going to know me in and out. This fight here is like a reality show on the internet right now."

GL: How did Andre Berto get cool with so many celebrities?

AB: "I don't know. I guess it just happened."

GL: Does Andre Berto like to party?

AB: "From time to time. I definitely play hard and work hard. My whole objective ever since I been young, I was always the black sheep of the family...

GL: (cutting in) Was everybody else light skinned?

AB: " (laughs) "You right though, my moms, my sister, everybody is light skinned except for my pops. I was always the black sheep, but then I became the example and it's been a crazy ride. When I wake up every morning I like to ask myself certain questions, where do you want to be in the next ten years? Are they going to be able to find you in the next ten years or will you be in lost in the crowd of people doing the same shit, not really doing anything? Will they not be able to miss you, because you're making marks in history? When you die, will they need a tombstone to remind people you were here, or will it not be necessary because during your life you've built monuments in people's minds. That's the shit I wake up asking myself and telling myself. That's what keeps me going and keeps me driven. I want to make sure that Berto patent is here for a long time."

GL: Closing thoughts?

AB: "Stay tuned to Boxingtalk.com for the next exclusive episode starring G. Leon and Andre Berto."

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