Andre Ward takes on Sullivan Barrera at light heavyweight
— -- In December, light heavyweight Sullivan Barrera scored the most notable win of his professional career as he impressively notched a fifth-round knockout of former world title challenger Karo Murat, who had gone the distance with then-titleholder Bernard Hopkins in a 2013 loss.
Other than a fourth-round knockout of a badly faded former super middleweight titleholder Jeff Lacy in January 2015, Barrera's resume does not show much. But the reason he is a very respected contender is because of his tremendous amateur career, during which he went 285-27 as a member of the Cuban national team and beat significant opponents such as Chad Dawson and Beibut Shumenov.
The win against Murat came in a world title eliminator that put Barrera in a mandatory position to challenge unified titleholder Sergey Kovalev, a fight that would have been a snap to make because Kovalev and Barrera are both promoted by Main Events. However, Barrera was not going to get the title shot right away because Kovalev had other obligations first.
Barrera could have waited, perhaps taken a soft fight or two to retain his position, and gotten a guaranteed shot at Kovalev or whoever held the belt when the mandatory bout was due.
But Barrera did not want to wait. After a long amateur career, the 34-year-old Miami, Florida-based defector knows time is of the essence if he wants to do great things in the ring.
So what did Barrera do? Something unheard of.
Using social media, he repeatedly called out former super middleweight champion Andre Ward, who has been very inactive in recent years but who is indisputably one of the most talented fighters in the world. He was a 2004 Olympic gold medalist and has barely lost rounds as a pro while winning two world title belts and wiping out several elite opponents, including Carl Froch, Arthur Abraham, Mikkel Kessler and Dawson. In fact, Ward has not lost since an amateur bout when he was 12.
But with Ward moving up to light heavyweight on his way to a fight that has already been contracted against Kovalev -- target date Nov. 19 on HBO PPV -- he needed a quality opponent for his first fight at 175 pounds.
Barrera (17-0, 12 KOs) made it well-known that he wanted to be the guy and he got what he wanted -- a title eliminator against Ward on Saturday night (HBO, 9:45 p.m. ET/PT) at the Oracle Arena in Ward's hometown of Oakland, California.
"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 through translator Abel Sanchez, his trainer. "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."
Sanchez was happy to see Barrera's intense desire to fight Ward (28-0, 15 KOs), 32, rather than having him sit around waiting for a title shot that was probably a year away.
Popular Reads
ABC News Live