Andre Ward vs. Sullivan Barrera negotiations still not completed

By Boxing News - 02/05/2016 - Comments

ward4By Allan Fox: Surprisingly, negotiations between the promoters for former WBA super middleweight champion Andre Ward (28-0, 15 KOs) at Roc Nation Sports and unbeaten Sullivan Barrera (17-0, 12 KOs) at Main Events are still taking place for their March 26 fight on HBO from the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California.

The negotiations having been dragging out for the past six weeks for some reason, and there is now only seven weeks to go before the fight on 3/26. Barrera’s promoter Kathy Duva from Main Events says it’s a different issue every day with Ward’s promoters at Main Events.

Ward, 31, absolutely needs this fight to get made with Barrera, because It would be a warm-up fight to get Ward ready for a much tougher fight later in 2016 against IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev. The Barrera fight would be Ward’s first true fight at light heavyweight.

You can’t count Ward’s last fight against super middleweight Paul Smith from last June as a fight in the light heavyweight division, because Smith bulked up for the fight. He wasn’t a true light heavyweight. Ward was supposed to fight after that on November 21 on the undercard of the Miguel Cotto vs. Saul “Canelo” Alvarez fight card on HBO PPV, but Ward pulled out of the fight due to an injury.

“Believe it or not, we are still talking. Leonard-Hearns, Holyfield-Foreman and Whitaker-Chavez all put together didn’t take this long to make,” Duva told ESPN.com. “It is literally a different issue every day. It’s a wonder that these people can put a four-rounder together.”

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Ward is no longer with Goosen Promotions after having signed with Roc Nation Sports. Ward also signed a three-fight deal with HBO last year. The March 26 fight is supposed to be Ward’s first fight of the three-fight deal. It would be a pity if Ward ends up facing a weaker opponent for his first fight at light heavyweight, because he’s going to need to face someone good if he wants to get ready for Kovalev fight.

Ward has fought only three times in the last four years. He beat Chad Dawson in 2012, Edwin Rodriguez in 2013, and Paul Smith in 2015. Ward didn’t fight at all in 2014.
You have to wonder that if it’s this hard for Ward and his promoters at Roc Nation Sports to setup a fight against Barrera, then how will they ever be able to negotiate a fight with Kovalev? He’s promoted by the same promoter as Barrera. It would be a real shame if Ward doesn’t wind up facing Kovalev. It would be even worse for HBO if they get three less than thrilling matches in their three-fight deal with Ward.

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The Ward-Barrera fight is just a regular HBO fight, not a pay-per-view match-up. That’s why it’s so confusing why the negotiations continue to be dragged on and on. If the negotiations drag into March, it’s going to make it very difficult for the fight to take place. The only way the fight would be able to take place under those conditions is if both fighters are training all this time with the idea that the negotiations will eventually get completed. But it’s got to be tough not knowing if the fight is going to be made or not, because fighters like to know the fight is done so that they can train without stress.



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