Barrera Receives Offer on The Low Side For Andre Ward

By Steve Kim

There are on-going discussions for a light heavyweight bout between Olympic gold medal winner Andre Ward and unbeaten Cuban contender Sullivan Barrera, who earned the top ranking in the IBF by defeating Karo Murat in five rounds on December the 12th.

Sources say that if this were to come to fruition that it would take place on a date in March, possibly in Oakland.

Ward (28-0, 15KOs) recently entered into a multi-fight agreement with HBO where he will eventually face unified light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev in the second half of 2016.

Barrera's trainer, Abel Sanchez told BoxingScene.com on Tuesday - "They're talking to Sullivan's manager but it was a crazy offer - not nearly good enough."

After taking off all of 2014 as he was embroiled in a dispute with his former promoter, Dan Goossen, Ward finally got back into the ring on June 20th where he stopped Paul Smith in nine rounds at the Oracle in Oakland. A scheduled appearance on the Miguel Cotto-Saul Alvarez pay-per-view undercard on November 21st versus Alexander Brand was scrapped as he suffered swelling in his right knee.

Barrera (17-0, 12KOs) has fought three times in 2015 and won all three bouts by knockout.

Steve Kim is the news editor for BoxingScene.com.