By Allan Fox: Andre Ward (28-0, 15 KOs) plans on making a statement in his first fight at light heavyweight against Sullivan Barrera (17-0, 12 KOs) on March 26 on HBO Boxing. Ward wants to show the 175lb division that he’s arrived, and he sees a conclusive victory over the 34-year-old Barrera as one way of accomplishing that task. We’re going to find out if Andre Ward is still an elite fighter when he steps foot inside the ring against Barrera on March 26th.
Ward, 31, isn’t ruling out getting a knockout in this fight, although he’s not necessarily going to be looking to get a KO. He feels that a knockout will be the end product of him following his game plan for the fight.
Ward needs an impressive win to get boxing fans excited about his fight later this year against unbeaten IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev. That’s the fight the fans want to see, because Kovalev has been untested thus far. He wants to be tested against the best, but getting guys like Adonis Stevenson to fight him has proved to be an impossible task. By facing the super middleweight division’s former #1 fighter in Andre Ward will be a good substitute for Kovalev taking on Stevenson.
“I think he’s [Barrera] going to try and put pressure. He’s going to try and make it rough, and that’s fine,” said Ward to Fighthype. “I’m okay with that kind of fight. That’s what guys try to do when guys move up. He’s going to try and impose himself. I’m looking forward to a tough fight. I’m looking forward to coming out on top. I want to send a message to the division that I’m here. I’ve arrived in the division. I fought a credible opponent. I could have fought a soft touch, but I didn’t take it. Hopefully the performance speaks for itself. If I follow my game plan and let my game plan unfold, a knockout isn’t out of the question. It’ll just come. I don’t have to look for is. If I follow the game plan, I’ll start to break him down,” said Ward.
If Ward tries to slug with Barrera, he could wind up getting hurt. It might not be the best idea for Ward to try and punch with the Cuban, because he’s been active all these years and he’s natural light heavyweight. Barrera is alto a better puncher than Ward.
There’s so many unknowns when it comes to Ward. You can’t really tell how he’s going to do based on his last fight against Paul Smith, because he didn’t look that great in the fight despite winning by a 9th round knockout. Barrera is another level fighter. He’s bigger, stronger and arguably a more talented fighter than Paul Smith.
That’s why you can’t really know how Ward is going to do in this fight because his last fight wasn’t a good enough test to show the boxing world just how much Ward has left in the tank.
Ward is taking the Barrera fight with only seven fights in the past six years. That is an incredibly low number of fights for Ward, and that’s why it’s impossible to know how he’s going to do against Barrera. Ward has had so much inactivity. He’s fighting now, but you have to wonder how much longer before he starts suffering injuries, managerial problems or difficulty in finding opponents to face him.
It can be a number of things with Ward that will keep him from fighting, and it would not be surprising if he starts having problems in the near future finding his way to the ring to stay active.
Ward could end up getting old overnight on March 26. He’s been out of action for so long in terms of facing the best. Now he’s fighting one of the best light heavyweights in the division with big time power. Ward didn’t look powerful in his fight despite getting the knockout. Smith was knocked out by an accumulation of shots that were brought about from him not throwing enough punches to keep Ward off of him. Smith came into the fight really overweight, and he didn’t look like he could fight hard for more than 10 seconds without getting gassed in each round. Barrera is capable of fighting hard for third minutes of every round, and he’s got power that guys like Smith could only dream of. Barrera destroyed Karo Murat in 5 rounds in his last fight last December. That’s the fastest Murat has ever been knocked out before.
Comments are closed.