Sanchez Will Have Barrera Ready For Andre Ward's Clinching

By Ryan Burton

On March 26th former unified super middleweight champion Andre Ward (28-0) will return to the ring against rising light heavyweight contender Sullivan Barrera (17-0) in an HBO televised main event. The bout takes place in Ward's hometown of Oakland, Calif.

The fight will represent a huge step up in competition for Barrera, who stopped the usually durable Karo Murat in 5 rounds in December to secure a mandatory fight against WBA/WBO/IBF light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev.

The 33-year-old former Cuban amateur standout decided to risk his mandatory position to face Ward who is ranked #1 or #2 on most outlets' pound-for-pound lists.

Ward is a very good defensive fighter and has been known to hold and clinch effectively to nullify most of his opponents' offense which has left many of them frustrated.

Barrera's trainer Abel Sanchez said that his fighter cannot let the 2004 Olympic gold medalist dictate the terms that the fight is fought at.

"I think it is more important how we prepare Sullivan (to handle the clinching). In order for there to be that type of fight that Andre and Virgil like to put on - it takes two to tango. If Sully falls into that trap then we are going to be fighting Andre's fight.  I think it is important for us to fight our fight," Sanchez told BoxingScene.com.

"As you recall Kovalev fighting Bernard Hopkins. Kovalev fought his fight and Bernard wasn't able to do the things that he wanted to do and had done in the previous fights.  So it is important to make sure that we don't allow Andre and Virgil to get into the type of fight that they like. 

"They are very efficient. They are very good at what they do.  Virgil is not only a great coach but he always has a great game plan.  I am sure they have watched Sully on tape and they are trying to figure out what they can do to nullify some of the things that Sully does that are good and the same with us but we just can't fall into their trap and fight their fight."

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