Floyd Mayweather vs. Andre Berto: Kickoff Press Conference | Thursday, August 6th

When Andre Berto steps into the ring on Sept. 12 against pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather Jr. at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, he will be an underdog, he says, for the first time in his career.

The odds are currently stacked heavily against him, and the MGM Grand Sports Book line opened at 50-1.

Berto, 31, a Floridian of Haitian descent, doesn’t worry about things he cannot control, and being underestimated, he says, is simply part of the business.

“It’s the fight game,” he explained to USA TODAY Sports by phone this week. “The fight game only (cares about) your last performance. With the fight game, it’s just how they’re not interested or they want to hate on a situation.

“Say you do something spectacular, they hop right back on. It’s something (I’ve been dealing with) pretty much my whole career. Coming out of the Olympics, and being highly touted, there have been criticisms of certain performances — I’ve always been held to a high (standard) when it comes to that. . . . And I’ve always been the favorite, so this is the first fight I’m going in as the underdog. You know, it’s a different situation for me, but right now it just feels great, it feels right.”