By Allan Fox: Stepping up to the light heavyweight division for his first real test in this weight class, former WBA/WBC super middleweight champion Andre “SOG” Ward (28-0, 15 KOs) made weight on Friday in weighing in at 174.4lbs against his first real light heavyweight opponent in Sullivan Barrera (17-0, 12 KOs) on Saturday night on HBO from the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California. Barrera also weighed in at 174.4lbs during the weigh-in.

Both guys looked in great shape during the weigh-in. You could tell they’ve been working hard during training camp to get ready for this fight. Ward will be facing a guy with a lot of punching power, and he’ll need to cope with that power somehow.

There are a number of boxing fans and members in the media who feel that this is going to be an easy fight for Ward. They feel that he won’t have lost anything simply because people Floyd Mayweather Jr. didn’t lose anything after being out of the ring for long stretches during his career. However, most fighters aren’t like Mayweather.

When normal fighters stay out of the ring for long periods, they’re nowhere near the same fighter when they do comeback to the sport. Ward get his chance to show whether he’s like the typical fighter who is negatively impacted by inactivity or the rare type like Mayweather, who don’t lose anything by staying out of the ring.

In Ward’s last fight against Paul Smith, Ward looked rusty and nowhere near the same fighter he’d been four years earlier in the Super Six tournament.

Ward, 31, will trying to get rid of a lot of ring rust when he gets inside the ring on Saturday night, because he’s only fought three times in the last four years.
Barrera, 34, already earned himself the #1 spot with the IBF after beating Karo Murat in his last fight. But instead of waiting for a title shot against IBF champion Sergey Kovalev, Barrera chose to fight Ward in a non-title fight.

“One of the main reasons that I targeted him was because he is considered one of the top three or four fighters in the world,” Barrera said to ESPN.com. “I admire him a lot. He’s a great talent. I love what he’s done. But I also consider myself a great talent and I also consider myself one of the best fighters in the world. And this opportunity is something that will prove to the world that I am at the top.”

It’s a pretty brave thing that Barrera is doing in taking the fight against Ward because he didn’t have to do this. However, Barrera is willing to be that his size, power and talent will be enough for him to defeat the ring rusty Ward in this fight.

If Barrera can hand Ward his first loss of his career on Saturday night, it’s going to totally derail Ward’s planned fight in November against Kovalev. That would be a real downer for HBO, who is hoping that fight can take place this year. Kovalev and his promoters at Main Event were hoping that Ward would take the Kovalev fight immediately rather than taking a risky fight beforehand. Ward would have to rebuild after a loss to Barrera, and there’s no way that a fight between Ward and Kovalev could take place until then.

“He’s a great talent. I love what he’s done. But I also consider myself a great talent and I also consider myself one of the best fighters in the world. And this opportunity is something that will prove to the world that I am at the top,” said Barrera.

It’s never a good idea for a ring rusty fighter like Ward or anyone to assume they can lose four years of their career and come back to fight at the top level and beat other top fighters. Ward might be able to win this fight and look like he had in the past, but there’s just as good a chance that we’re going to see Ward only 75% of what he was in the past. The major question is can Ward beat a talented fighter like Barrera if all he has left is 75 percent. I don’t know. I would be willing to bet that Ward won’t be able to do it.

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Saturday’s HBO World Championship Boxing doubleheader telecast begins at 9:45 p.m. (ET/PT).

Opening up the telecast from the Oracle Arena is a 10-round featherweight battle between Joseph Diaz Jr. and Jayson Velez.

The main event features a light heavyweight showdown between undefeated fighters Andre Ward and Sullivan Barrera.

Official Weights from Oakland:

Joseph Diaz Jr: 125.8 lbs.

Jayson Velez: 125.6 lbs.

Andre Ward: 174.4 lbs.

Sullivan Barrera: 174.4 lbs.

Join the conversation on Twitter: #WardBarrera