Sullivan Barrera vs. Jesse Hart
Sullivan Barrera vs. Jesse Hart is really a good match-up. Sullivan Barrera is a solid light heavyweight contender. He has 22 wins with only 2 losses that came to Andre Ward and Dmitry Bivol and there is no shame in losing to them as Ward might be an all-time great and Bivol might be the best in the division currently. The bad part about his meeting with bivol was that he took a beating for 12 rounds and was ultimately stopped in the last round. Jesse Hart is moving up in weight and this is his first fight at light heavyweight. His record stands at 25-2 with 21 knockouts. The only really talented fighter he has faced is Gilberto Ramirez who he fought twice and lost to both times. The fights were very close, but he did lose. So if you remove Ramirez from his record Barrera is no doubt the best opponent he will have faced. Hart is moving up a division but his frame fits the light heavyweight division and he is a big guy standing at 6´3. He has the height and reach advantage in this fight. Will Jesse Hart raise his game and beat an opponent of Barrera´s class and pedigree or will Barrera show that he has more left after the struggles he has been in? Barrera is up there in age at 37 years old and he needs this win badly to get another title shot.
A lot of people are picking Barrera to win based on his technical ability and the fact that he has been a light heavyweight his entire career. We don’t agree with that. Barrera is a great technical fighter but his skills have deteriorated and he looks and feels a lot older than the Barrera that faced Ward a few years back. Even the best version of Barrera had slow hands but it was compensated for with his great timing and skills. He seems to be a tad bit slower now and he is getting hit a lot more which we saw in his last fight against limited Seanie Monaghan. Jesse Hart looked good at the weigh in and he is by far the fresher fighter of the two. Barrera also has been getting knocked down more often as of late and he was stopped after a vicious beating against Bivol. We have reason to believe that Barrera will get stopped again tonight. A Jesse Hart stoppage pays 3.5 to 1 and that’s the Pick.