Sullivan Barrera

By Allan Fox: Next Saturday night on March 26, Andre Ward (28-0, 15 KOs) will be facing Cuban Sullivan Barrera (17-0, 12 KOs) in the 31-year-old Ward’s first real fight at 175lbs on HBO Boxing from the Oracles Arena in Oakland, California.

Ward needs to win this fight so that he can get to an arguably more important match against unbeaten IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev. Barrera is considered to be a good fighter, but not in Ward’s class in terms of talent.

However, Ward isn’t overlooking Barrera. He seems him as a real test, and he’s not going to make the mistake of assuming he’ll get past the 34-year-old contender. This is Ward’s real test at light heavyweight, and he doesn’t want to spoil it by getting beaten.

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By Allan Fox: Andre Ward’s fight against unbeaten highly ranked light heavyweight Sullivan Barrera (17-0, 12 KOs) is only eight days away for their fight on March 26 at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California.

This is the moment of truth for the 31-year-old Ward. He’s going to show in this fight whether he’s got the power, size and enough left in the tank to compete in the 175lb division. Right now, we don’t know that Ward can compete at a high level at 175 because it’s a different animal from what he’s been doing at 168 in the super middleweight division.

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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.

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By Allan Fox: Andre Ward (28-0, 15 KOs) is making a big step up in moving up to the full weight of the light heavyweight division against one of the biggest punchers in the weight class in Sullivan Barrera (17-0, 12 KOs) on March 26.

Ward, 31, won’t have the benefit of a catch-weight for this contest like he did in his last fight against super middleweight Paul Smith last June. Ward says Smith rehydrated to 192 or 193 for that fight, and he still was able to beat him. Smith was also fat at the weight, and nothing like a true light heavyweight, who typically rehydrates to a solid 190+ pounds.

Ward-Barrera fight will be televised on HBO Boxing and will be taking place in Ward’s home city at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California. The crowd will be a pro-Ward crowd, but Barrera is accustomed to fighting in front of hostile crowds, as he had a long amateur career in Cuba, and it involved him doing a lot of traveling outside of his country.

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By Dan Ambrose: Former WBA/WBC super middleweight champion Andre “SOG” Ward (28-0, 15 KOs) will be taking on the toughest opponent in many years next month when he faces unbeaten Cuban Sullivan Barrera (17-0, 12 KOs) on March 26 in a 12 round fight on HBO from the Oracle Arena, in Oakland, California.

Ward might not want to admit it but Barrera is easily the best opponent he has faced since his fight against Carl Froch in 2011, and he might even be a better fighter than Froch. Barrera certainly is a better boxer than Froch, and he has better defense and a superior inside game.

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By Tim Fletcher: Abel Sanchez, the trainer for unbeaten Sullivan Barrera (17-0, 12 KOs), thinks Andre Ward (28-0, 15 KOs) is going to have a very difficult fight against Barrera on March 26, and he feels this fight is going to answer a lot of questions about both fighters.

Ward just turned 32-years-old today, and he must win this fight to keep on path to fight IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev on November 19 on HBO. Ward wanted to take a difficult tune-up in his first fight at 175, and he’s got a tough one in Barrera, who is the biggest fighter and the biggest puncher that Ward has ever fought before.

Ward-Barrera will be televised on HBO from the Oracle Arena, in Oakland, California. This is a really hard fight on paper for Ward because he’s not been an active fighter since 2011.

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