Sullivan Barrera

Sullivan Barrera (born 25 February 1982) is a Cuban professional boxer.

As an amateur, he won the middleweight gold medal at the 2000 AIBA Junior World Championships.

Barrera won the gold medal at the 2000 AIBA Junior World Championships as a middleweight.

In that tournament, Barrera defeated Chad Dawson in the semi-finals and Imre Szellő in the final.

Barrera took the bronze medal at Torneo Playa Girón in 2002 and 2003.

Barrera's record as an amateur was 285-27.

Barrera defected to the United States in 2009, after two previous failed attempts.

Barrera made his professional debut in August 2009.

He won his first five fights by way of knockout.

On his 7th fight, Barrera won the WBA Fedelatin and the interim WBO Latino light heavyweight titles.

Barrera was ranked by the WBA and the WBC as one of the top 15 light heavyweight contenders early in his career.

Barrera trained with Gennady Golovkin's coach, Abel Sanchez.

In November 2014, Barrera defeated Rowland Bryant in the undercard of Hopkins-Kovalev.

In December 2015, Barrera faced Karo Murat in an IBF eliminator, the winner was to become Sergey Kovalev's mandatory challenger.

The IBF had previously ordered Barrera to fight Artur Beterbiev and Igor Mikhalkin but negotiations for both of those bouts fell through.

Barrera blasted Murat, dropping him in round 4 before stopping him in round 5.

Barrera and Kovalev were both signed to Kathy Duva's promotional outfit at the time, Main Events.

Barrera next faced former unified super middleweight champion, Andre Ward.

Ward was moving up to light heavyweight.

The fight took place at Ward's hometown Oracle Arena.

En route to a wide unanimous decision victory, Ward dropped Barrera to the canvas in the third round as he turned a left hook while on the ropes.

Barrera was also dropped in the eighth round from a low blow.

Referee Raul Caiz Sr. saw it and deducted a point from Ward.

Ward dictated the pace for the vast majority of the bout, showcasing good strength and ring generalship against Barrera.

The three judges scored the fight 117-109, 119-109, and 117-108.

Ward landed 166 from 463 thrown (36%) whilst Barrera landed 111 of 722 punches thrown (15%).

When asked about the potential mega fight against Kovalev, Ward said, "It's never a problem. You look at my track record. I want to fight the best. I've always fought the best. Sergey Kovalev, he's a great champion."

For the fight, Ward earned $1.85 million and Barrera earned a $450,000 purse.

The fight averaged 1.064 million viewers and peaked at 1.152 million viewers.

After the loss, Barrera parted ways with Abel Sanchez.

Following the loss to Ward, Barrera agreed to fight undefeated contender Vyacheslav Shabranskyy.

The fight took place at the Fantasy Springs Casino in Indio, California in December 2016.

Barrera exploited Shabranskyy's defensive weaknesses to stop Shabrankskyy in the seventh round.

Barrera hit the ground running, knocking Shabranskyy down in the first round.

The latter would return the favour in round 2, dropping Barrera with a combination of punches following a check left hook.

As the rounds progressed, Barrera established his rhythm and started breaking Shabranskyy down.

Shabranskyy would go down once again in round 5 after a one-two combo.

Round 7 would be the end for Shabranskyy, as he was knocked down with an overhand left.

He was able to get up but the referee waived the count.

He challenged once for the WBA light heavyweight title in 2018.