BoxRec

According to multiple sources, Andre Ward may be fighting BoxRec #23 light heavyweight Sullivan Barrera on March 26. If the fight is made, it will be on HBO.

Barrera is the IBF mandatory for Sergey Kovalev and is ranked by a couple of other sanctioning organizations.

However, he is not listed in the top 10 of The Ring or Transnational boxing rankings.

Oh dear....

He is a Cuban with a pop. He took Murat out in 5 rounds, and the only fights where he didn't stop an opponent were 6 rounds or shorter. He is better than anybody (the whole 2 people) Ward fought since 2011.

Legit Opponent, as young as he is.

Hope we can stop with the "Ward won't fight anyone" nonsense now...but I doubt it.

I know nothing of this opponent other than I'd love to see him ice Ward.

I like it.

Impractical Poster wrote:I know nothing of this opponent other than I'd love to see him ice Ward.

Yes.

I tweeted some gifs of Ward's dirty tactics (especially head butts) to Barrera with hopes he might be prepared for it. He replied to thank me and favorited the tweets.

Solid fight, cant knock either fighter for taking this fight. Ward should aim for Braehmer after this fight to make the Kovalev fight into a unification, i'm sure Roc can offer Braehmer good money and as he's 37 he might as well cash out.

Braehmer is a fine fight, but he doesn't have a real belt, so there would still be no unification with Kova.

According to idiots on this board Ward was never going to fight anyone dangerous.

diddy wrote:According to idiots on this board Ward was never going to fight anyone dangerous.

Is Sullivan Barrera (BoxRec #23, age 34, never had a big fight before) really a dangerous opponent? I was hoping Kovalev would get him for the easy KO win.

And as always, the pampered Ward will have home advantage.

Do people really think this is a good opponent? The nicest thing I can say about him is that he's a better opponent than Paul Smith was. He's still going to get clowned.

jujigatame wrote:Do people really think this is a good opponent? The nicest thing I can say about him is that he's a better opponent than Paul Smith was. He's still going to get clowned.

Yes, Barrera is definitely a step up from Paul Smith. But he's no match for Ward, especially if Ward is permitted by a home referee to use illegal tactics.

I don't care what either of them do as long as it's legit and Kovalev and Ward fight before the summer.

Larrylefthook wrote:Solid fight, cant knock either fighter for taking this fight. Ward should aim for Braehmer after this fight to make the Kovalev fight into a unification, i'm sure Roc can offer Braehmer good money and as he's 37 he might as well cash out.

Ward can't fight anyone but kovalev after June. Agreed its a good fight.

SaadOffTheDeck wrote:

Larrylefthook wrote:Solid fight, cant knock either fighter for taking this fight. Ward should aim for Braehmer after this fight to make the Kovalev fight into a unification, i'm sure Roc can offer Braehmer good money and as he's 37 he might as well cash out.

Ward can't fight anyone but kovalev after June. Agreed its a good fight.

Doesn't Ward have a 3 fight deal with HBO with the last fight being against Kovalev?

Larrylefthook wrote:

SaadOffTheDeck wrote:

Larrylefthook wrote:Solid fight, cant knock either fighter for taking this fight. Ward should aim for Braehmer after this fight to make the Kovalev fight into a unification, i'm sure Roc can offer Braehmer good money and as he's 37 he might as well cash out.

Ward can't fight anyone but kovalev after June. Agreed its a good fight.

Doesn't Ward have a 3 fight deal with HBO with the last fight being against Kovalev?

He has a 3 fight deal with HBO, the time frame is that after June neither man can have a fight that isn't against each other. Ward wanted two tune ups but pulled out of one. Sergey is the only person he can fight come July and vice versa. HBO learned their lesson with Stevenson.

Good fight.

I've got a feeling Ward will do something special and get a mid-round stoppage.

Hopefully he gets active again and fulfills his talent.
Needs to fight outside Oakland occasionally though.

Not a bad fight to be fair. He's undefeated at least and there's not a huge amount of alternatives, Kovalev, Stevenson, Hopkins and Pascal are all off the table, Braehmer would never fight Ward, Chilemba would send everyone to sleep, someone like Alvarez or Fonfara would be decent but this isn't bad for his first fight at 175. Barrera then a top 5-10 LHW before Kovalev later this year would be good.

Freedom2013 wrote:

diddy wrote:According to idiots on this board Ward was never going to fight anyone dangerous.

Is Sullivan Barrera (BoxRec #23, age 34, never had a big fight before) really a dangerous opponent? I was hoping Kovalev would get him for the easy KO win.

And as always, the pampered Ward will have home advantage.

Isn't Barrera the mandatory for Kovalev?? Looks like Ward is clearing the way for a match up later on in the year.

I was kinda hoping either Cleverly or Fonfara would get the call.

Better than cruiserweight smith is such a damning statement though.

Yes We Can wrote:I was kinda hoping either Cleverly or Fonfara would get the call.

Better than cruiserweight smith is such a damning statement though.

Paul Smith was actually a super middleweight.

He was never a cruiserweight, he just didn't get in shape for his fight with Ward in Oakland because he knew he'd lose.

Freedom2013 wrote:

Yes We Can wrote:I was kinda hoping either Cleverly or Fonfara would get the call.

Better than cruiserweight smith is such a damning statement though.

Paul Smith was actually a super middleweight.

He was never a cruiserweight, he just didn't get in shape for his fight with Ward in Oakland because he knew he'd lose.

What weight was he when he entered the ring?

..not in Oakland again? I bet in the whereabouts of the maternity ward where he was delivered ...is he ever gonna leave his backyard?

greg wrote:..not in Oakland again? I bet in the whereabouts of the maternity ward where he was delivered ...is he ever gonna leave his backyard?

He can't draw sh!t 20 miles away from Oakland.