By Allan Fox: Former WBA/WBC super middleweight Andre Ward (29-0, 15 KOs) looked much slower and weaker than he had in the past in having to struggle to defeat previously unbeaten Sullivan Barrera (17-1, 12 KOs) by an unimpressive 12 round unanimous decision on Saturday night on Boxing from the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California.

With the way Ward looked tonight, Gennady Golovkin must be kicking himself for not having taken a fight with him, because Ward doesn’t have any power at all. He would not be able to keep Golovkin off of him other than by holding, which he was doing quite a bit of tonight.

I had Barrera winning three rounds with one of the rounds being even. I thought Barrera won rounds 2, 9 and 12. He fought better than Ward in those rounds, and landed the harder shots.

Ward had a long talk with the medical doctor after the fight had ended. It could be that Ward suffered some kind of injury in the fight. He wasn’t using his right hand in the last part of the fight. It was mostly jabs and left hooks from Ward. Hopefully, Ward didn’t injure his right shoulder during the contest, because that would potentially throw off his fight against Sergey Kovalev, which is supposed to take place this year. Ward wants another tune-up fight in the summer before facing Kovalev in November. If Ward suffered some kind of injury, then his tune-up fight could come later this year.

Most of the rounds were very close with Ward barely doing enough to win them based off occasional jabs and right hands. For those who remember Ward in his prime, this was like watching someone else. For the fans who have no clue who Ward is, they probably thought he was decent tonight if not very boring.

Barrera was landing the harder shots in every round. His problem was he didn’t have any hand speed, which is probably why he was selected for Ward. Barrera was very, very slow of hand, and this enabled Ward to hit him when he was coming forward. If Barrera had hand speed to match his punching power, he probably wouldn’t have gotten the fight. Ward’s management didn’t put him in with the speedy fast and powerful Adonis Stevenson. That would have been nightmare for Ward, because Stevenson would have both the speed and the power advantage over Ward.

Ward got credit for flash knock down in the 3rd round when he dropped Barrera when he was in close and not ready to be hit. Barrera wasn’t hurt and Ward was wise enough not to go after him. The final judges’ scores were 117-109, 119-109, 117-108.

Ward, 31, got dirty in the 8th round when he nailed Barrera with a low blow. The referee Raul Caiz did the right thing in taking a point away from Ward. Ward wasn’t docked a point for a low blow in the 9th. The referee also gave Ward a break by not taking a point away when he hit Barrera a full second after the 4th round had ended. It was a cheap shot from Ward, as he had been hit moments earlier by Barrera and he reacted to it by hitting him after the bell when his hands were down.

Ward was cut over his left eye in the 10th round from a head clash. Earlier in the round, Ward had been warned by the referee for leading with his head. When Ward failed to heed the warning, he was cut later in the round when he again came forward with his head.

Barrera looked considerably bigger than Ward tonight, and definitely the stronger guy. Ward just appeared to be a super middleweight fighting a slow light heavyweight. Ward is going to need to find some punching power and size somewhere if he wants to beat the likes of Sergey Kovalev. Right now, off of this performance, I would have to say that Kovalev would bludgeon Ward into submission. Ward might give Kovalev some problems if his management at Roc Nation Sports are able to get the fight staged in his hometown of Oakland. The crowd there was cheering Ward no matter what he did tonight. Even when he missed punches, they were cheering. At the same time, Ward’s fans were deathly silent when Barrera was landing, and he was landing good shots in each round. Ward would shake his head after being hit by Barrera, but it was clear that the Cuban fighter’s punching power was bothering him. With the way that Ward was clinching in the last four rounds of the contest, it was clear that he had problems with Barrera’s power.

IBF/IBO/WBA light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev was at the fight tonight to scout on Ward, and perhaps hoping that he would agree to fight him next. Unfortunately for Kovalev, Ward had bad news for him when he said that he’ll eventually getting around to fighting him later on. Ward will likely be back inside the ring in June against an opponent still to be determined. It would be interesting if Ward faced someone that has the potentially to beat him like Stevenson or Artur Beterbiev, but I don’t see either of those fights happening. Ward doesn’t have a world title belt yet, and I don’t think his promoters at Roc Nation Sports will put him anywhere near those fighters. Stevenson is too fast and powerful for Ward, and Beterbiev is just plain dangerous due to his power and combination punching. Both of those fighters are clear level above Barrera in talent. Ward was barely winning rounds against Barrera tonight. If you put him in with Stevenson and Barrera, he would be losing rounds and might even get knocked out.

It’s doubtful that Ward will be able to improve much no matter how many tune-up fights he takes. I think it’s age that has slowed Ward’s game down. That an inactivity. When you sit on the couch from 2012 to 2016, you’re going to lose a big part of your game. Ward fought only once in 2012, 2013 and 2015. In 2014, Ward didn’t fight at all. He’s been a part time fighter, and his inactivity was reflected tonight with his performance against Barrera. Again, for boxing fans that aren’t familiar with Ward, they probably though he was swell tonight. For fans having seen Ward’s fights since he turned pro like myself, it’s painfully obvious how much he’s lost from his game.