Barrera: Hart Talking Sh*t, We're Going To Shut His Mouth

By Ryan Burton

MGM GRAND, LAS, VEGAS - There is certainly no love lost between former title challengers Jesse Hart (25-2) and Sullivan Barrera (22-2). They will settle their differences in the ring on Saturday night in the co-feature bout underneath the Tyson Fury-Tom Schwarz main event. Both bouts will be streamed on ESPN+.

This will be Barrera's first fight since his dominant decision victory over Seanie Monaghan last November. He is very eager to quiet the talkative Hart.

"I feel very good. I had a great training camp for this fight and we are ready to shut Jesse Hart's mouth. He has been talking a lot of sh*t on social media," Barrera told BoxingScene.com.

The two have gone back and forth on Twitter with Hart doing more of the talking. Barrera looks at Hart's talking as a sign of weakness.

"I know that he is insecure and nervous. He is talking like that because he knows he has never fought anyone like me," Barrera stated.

Both of Hart's losses were close decision losses to former super middleweight champion Gilberto Ramirez. This will be his first fight at 175 pounds and Barrera believes that Hart and will learn the hard way that the light heavyweight division is much different than what he is accustomed to.

"At light heavyweight the punches are hard. This Saturday he is going to know that he made a mistake to move up in weight. He can't come back after Saturday," explained Barrera.

If he emerges victorious, the 37-year-old Cuban hopes to secure another title shot. He came up short when he faced Dmitry Bivol for the WBA light heavyweight title last year and his other loss came against former pound-for-pound king Andre Ward.

Barrera recently signed a multi-fight deal with Top Rank Inc. who also promote WBC light heavyweight champion Oleksandr Gvozdyk, IBF champion Artur Beterbiev and co-promotes WBO champion Sergey Kovalev. The Miami based fighter said that he is not picky and is willing to fight any of them after Hart.

"I want the best light heavyweights in the world like I have already fought before. I want to get another opportunity to fight for a world title and to win the title this time. I don't care which one, all three are champs. Whoever they give is fine for me. They are all great champs," Barrera stated.

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