By Allan Fox: Undefeated #9 IBF, #10 WBA, #10 WBO light heavyweight contender Sullivan Barrera (16-0, 11 KOs) is interested in getting a fight against former WBC light heavyweight champion Jean Pascal (30-3-1, 17 KOs) if possible. The 33-year-old Barrera, who came to the U.S from Cuba, recently saw Pascal’s controversial 10 round unanimous decision win over fellow Cuban Yunieski Gonzalez (16-1, 12 KOs) last month, and he feels he can do a better job against Pascal if given the chance.
Barrera is trained by Abel Sanchez, the same trainer that trains IBO/WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin.
Pascal doesn’t seem all that interested in continuing to fight the lower ranked contenders like Gonzalez and Barrera. Pascal wants a rematch against IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev, who recently stopped him in the 8th round. A rematch with Kovalev is the better deal for Pascal than it is for him to be fighting the tough as nails Cuban fighters one after another.
Barrera is coming off of an 8th round stoppage last July of Hakim Zoulikha in one of his better wins of his career.
“I called Pascal out after he got a gift against my boy Yunieski,” Barrera said via ESPN.com. “He knows he lost that fight. I don’t know why this guy continues to duck me. Is he scared of all Cubans now? Pascal, I’m waiting for you, papa. Glove up.”
Barrera looks slower, less powerful and not as formidable as the slightly younger 30-year-old Yunieski Gonzalez. Pascal would likely beat Barrera based on his advantage in hand speed, defensive skills and mobility. Barrera is kind of slow on his feet, and he doesn’t have the hand speed that Pascal has going for him. While Barrera does hit hard, he’s not a huge puncher. He has heavy hands but he doesn’t have the huge power that Gonzalez has going for him.
“Is Pascal going to be a coward and just wait for a Kovalev rematch,” Barrera said. “No one thought you beat Yunieski. Fight me to prove you deserve a Kovalev rematch. He already knocked you out so it’s not like that fight is in high demand. You can earn the rematch by winning a real fight. I already said I would go to Canada, so man up.”
If Barrera is going to get a fight against Pascal, he’s likely going to need to start putting together bigger wins than the guys that he’s been beaten. Barrera hasn’t beaten anyone of note, and he’s not taking the boxing world by storm with wins that’s been accumulating thus far. If anyone is going to get a fight against Pascal, it would be Gonzalez, who deserves a rematch against Pascal after his controversial loss to him.
Pascal looked really bad in the Gonzalez fight, and it’s hard to know where Pascal can go. He’s getting older at 32, and he doesn’t match up well with guys like Kovalev and Adonis Stevenson. Pascal would be better off going after WBA “regular” light heavyweight champion Juergen Braehmer, because he’s the more vulnerable champion at 175.
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