With his fifth round knockout of Karo Murat (27-3-1, 17 KOs) last Saturday night, Sullivan Barrera (17-0, 12 KOs) not only secured his #1 ranking in the light heavyweight division for the IBF but he also gained the attention of the rest of the division. For those who missed this performance, HBO Latino will play an encore of the fight tonight at 9:30 p.m. ET.
The 33-year old from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba had been quietly making his way up the ranks of the light heavyweight division since his defection and pro debut back in 2009. However, with his stellar performance on Saturday night at the Glendale Civic Auditorium and live on HBO Latino, Barrera has announced to the division that he will not sit quiet anymore. He also became the mandatory challenger for the IBF belt held by Unified Light Heavyweight Champion Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev.
After the fight Barrera said, “I feel I can still improve; every fight that goes by I’m adjusting more and more with my coach, [2015 Trainer of the Year] Abel Sanchez. There is room for improvement and I will only continue to get better. Looking forward to my next fight; thank you to my team.”
Kathy Duva, CEO of Main Events and promoter of both Kovalev and Barrera said, “I was very impressed with Sullivan’s performance against Karo Murat. He demonstrated to everyone that he belongs among the best light heavyweights in the world. And, I didn’t know this until after the fight, he had the flu! He still has so much more to show and I can’t wait to see it.”
The HBO Latino Boxing replay will also include the knockout victory of undefeated middleweight prospect Arif “The Predator” Magomedov over Jonatan “Oso” Tavira and Pedro Campa’s unanimous decision win over Aaron Herrera.
