Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images
Rust is for iron, but not for a stainless steel.
Andre Ward, although just fought 3 times in three years, showed no ring-rust on a stellar performance against a credible undefeated prospect, Cuban Sullivan Barrera in a 12-round non-title match at the Oracle Arena, Oakland, California on HBO.
In the get-go it was obvious that Ward still had that quick and sharp hands at the light heavyweight division, targeting Barrera at will with precise combination. Ward (29-0, 15 KOs) dropped Barrera in the third round with a well-placed counter left hook to the head. Although Barrera (17-1, 12 KO) obviously not hurt, but the timing of the impact did just enough to put his ass on the canvas, as his feet were not in the right position to absorb the timing of the counter.
The rest of the remaining rounds showed Ward out-boxing the solid amateur boxer with accuracy and superior defense. Since it’s Easter, I gave a mercy round for Barrera. That’s round 11. He landed solid combination that stopped Ward on his track.
Ringside judges had the fight 119-109, 117-109, and 117-108 for Ward.
With Ward getting past Barrera, as expected, is ‘tentatively scheduled’ or is expected to face the hard hitting light heavyweight titlist and Transnational Boxing Ranking Board ranked number 1 contender Sergey Kovalev. I think this will be the most anticipated match-up for this year aside from Mayweather-Golovkin, Canelo-Golovkin or Ward-Golovkin.
What do you think of Andre Ward vs. Sergey Kovalev match-up?
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