Former two-time welterweight beltholder Andre Berto will undergo about six weeks of rehabilitation following Wednesday’s three-and-a-half-hour surgery to repair a ruptured subscapularis (under the shoulder blade) tendon in his right arm suffered during last month’s 12th-round stoppage loss to Jesus Soto Karass, the fighter’s publicist announced on Thursday.

The operation was performed by Dr. Neal ElAttrache, who was involved with the surgery that repaired Berto’s ruptured left biceps in February of 2012.

Berto, who believes that he suffered the injury in the second round, was found to have completely torn the tendon from top to bottom, according to the release.

“I am happy to have the surgery behind me and hear that everything went well,” said Berto, who was told that he could resume training in four months, following rehab. “I’m going to rest up and focus all my energy on my recovery so that I can return to the ring full force in 2014.”

Soto Karass (28-8-3, 18 knockouts) rose from an 11th-round knockdown to drop and finish Berto (28-3, 22 KOs) in the 12th, scoring the first-ever knockout of a man whose other losses were by unanimous decision to Victor Ortiz and Robert Guerrero.

Photo by Naoki Fukuda

Lem Satterfield can be reached at [email protected]