Former two-time welterweight world titleholder Andre Berto has suffered a torn left biceps, forcing his return to the ring after a one-year layoff to be called off on Monday.
Berto was due to fight Miguel Cruz in a 10-round welterweight bout in the opener of a Premier Boxing Champions tripleheader on Saturday (Fox, 8 p.m. ET) at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Berto said he tweaked the biceps in a sparring session last week and tore it during his final sparring session on Saturday. An MRI revealed the tear, and Berto will have surgery.
"Saturday was the last day of sparring, and I was trying to finish and keep going strong,'' Berto said. "I threw a left hook, and I felt a squeeze and a pop. I started yelling and cursing because I knew what happened. I've had injuries before. Even though it was bad, I thought it was something that I could get a cortisone shot and fight with. But the MRI showed that the tendon was torn from the bone, and I need surgery as soon as possible."
In 2010, Berto tore the same biceps during an eighth-round knockout win over former welterweight world titlist Carlos Quintana to retain his belt. In 2012, Berto also tore his left biceps, causing a rematch with Victor Ortiz to be postponed.
Berto (32-5, 24 KOs), 35, of Winter Haven, Florida, who suffered a tear in his right shoulder during a 12th-round knockout loss to Jesus Soto Karass in 2013, has not boxed since a 12-round split decision over former two-division titlist Devon Alexander in August.
"It's devastating because I worked hard for eight weeks, and I'm in dog shape," Berto said. "I was just ready to go. This just kills me. It's so freaky that it happened on the last day of sparring. When I hurt it on Tuesday, I just taped it up and went back to work. The doctors say there was a slight tear on Tuesday because there was still some inflammation when I came back to spar on Thursday and Saturday. They say it would have torn during the fight.
"This injury and the surgery won't be as bad as the shoulder. The shoulder was a lot of different muscles and tendons that were torn. I had a sling on for six weeks, and I was immobilized for so long that I had frozen shoulder syndrome, and I had to go through three or four weeks with therapy to just get it to moving. It took eight or nine months with the shoulder. If I do it right with this injury, I'll be good in two or three months."
With Berto's fight against Cruz (18-1, 12 KOs), 29, of Lake Mary, Florida, off the card, a 10-round undercard bout between junior middleweights Curtis Stevens (30-6, 22 KOs), 34, a former middleweight world title challenger from Brooklyn, and "Lucky Boy" Wale Omotoso (27-4, 21 KOs), 34, a Nigeria native fighting out of Oxnard, California, has been moved up the card to open the broadcast.
The card is headlined by a 12-round heavyweight fight between rising contender Adam Kownacki (19-0, 15 KOs), 30, a Poland native fighting out of Brooklyn, and former three-time world title challenger Chris Arreola (38-5-1, 33 KOs), 38, of Riverside, California.
The middle bout features Marcus Browne (23-0, 16 KOs), 28, a 2012 U.S. Olympian from Staten Island, New York, making the first defense of his interim light heavyweight world title against former world champion Jean Pascal (33-6-1, 20 KOs), 36, of Montreal.