By Allan Fox: With unbeaten Artur Beterbiev pulling out of the IBF 175lb eliminator bout due to a shoulder injury he suffered this week in training, the International Boxing Federation will now having #8 IBF Sullivan Barrera (16-0, 11 KOs) face #10 IBF Igor Mikhalkin in the IBF light heavyweight title eliminator.
The winner of the Barrera- Mikhalkin will become the IBF mandatory challenger to IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev in 2016. Beterbiev’s injury is Barrera’s gain, because he had been hoping to face Beterbiev in the IBF eliminator bout, but when Beterbiev’s management decided to stage the fight in Canada, it made it impossible for Barrera to take the fight due to him having visa problems that prevented him to travel over there to face Beterbiev.
“Artur Beterbiev, Sullivan Barrera, and Igor Mikhalkin were the only three light-heavyweights that agreed to fight in the eliminator,” IBF Championship Chairman Lindsey Tucker told Fightnews.com. “After Beterbiev got injured, we went back to Barrera. It will be Barrera and Mikhalkin.”
The 33-year-old Barrera comes from Cuba, where he was one of the countries better fighters at 175. Since turning pro in 2009, Barrera has breezed through his first 16 fights easily. He recently defeated Hakim Zoulikha, Jeff Lacy, and Rowland Bryant.
It’s still hard to say how good Beterbiev is because he’s not faced anyone good as of yet. But in looking at some of his fights, he lacks hand speed and mobility. Barrera does have decent punching power, but he doesn’t look anywhere close to being as good as Kovalev. He likely would have struggled if he had faced Beterbiev in the IBF eliminator, so it’s a good thing that he’s facing Mikhalkin in the IBF eliminator instead of Beterbiev.
From a personal standpoint, I think #8 WBC Yunieski Gonzalez looks a lot better than Barrera at this point in their careers. Gonzalez, 3, is younger than Barrera, has better hand speed and punching power that is very similar to his.
The 30-year-old Mikhalkin comes from Russia and was beaten previously by Aleksy Kuziemski by a 10 round decision five years ago in 2010. Mikhalkin has won his last four fights against weak opposition.
On paper, Barrera has to be seen as the favorite over Mikhalkin. However, neither of these guys appear to be anywhere close to Kovalev in terms of talent. Barrera would be a tough opponent for WBA “regular” light heavyweight champion Juergen Braehmer, but even that fight would likely be too tough for him.
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