Televisionado ao vivo pela HBO ®

NOVA IORQUE, Nova Iorque (Fevereiro 9, 2016) - Roc Nation Sports tem o prazer de anunciar que Duas vezes Campeão do Mundo e com a melhor nota pound-for-pound lutador Andre Ward (28-0, 15 KOs) vai voltar aos ringues em Sábado, Março 26, to begin his assault on the light heavyweight division when he takes on undefeated and number one rated IBF light heavyweight contender Sullivan Barrera (17-0, 12 KOs) in a 12-round bout at Oracle Arena in Ward’s hometown of Oakland, Califórnia. The event will be televised live on HBO World Championship Boxing^® começando no 9:45 p.m. E/PT.

 

Ingressos ao preço de $300, $150, $100, $50 e $25, não incluindo encargos de serviço aplicáveis ​​e os impostos, go on sale Tuesday, Fevereiro. 9 em 5:00 PM PT and will be available at all Ticketmaster locations, on-line em Ticketmaster.com e cobrar pelo telefone (800) 745-3000.

 

“I don’t really have much to say other than this. Em março 26, it will be very simple. I’ll be in a new weight class against a tough opponent but I’m coming with the same approach,", Disse Ward. “I’ll be in great shape and ready for battle. Sullivan Barrera has had a lot to say lately and I love it. He’s going to have an opportunity to back up every word that he has spoken. These are the type of challenges I like and on March 26, it’s go time.”

 

“We as a team had a tough choice to make – crash the party by taking out Ward first or wait for the mandatory and take out Kovalev,” said Barrera. “We decided that the time is now. Ward will fall first and then we will go after the belts.”

 

“Having cleaned out the super middleweight division, Andre’s next challenge is to become the best light heavyweight in the world, and that challenge begins with the IBF’s number one rated contender in Sullivan Barrera,"Disse David Itskowitch, COO of Boxing Roc Nation Sports. “With both fighters having their sights set on an eventually showdown with Unified Light Heavyweight World Champion Sergey Kovalev, there’s a lot on the line in this fight, but only one man will move on. Março 26 is a night of boxing that no fan should miss.”

 

“I’m excited to be on Team Ward as we enter the light heavyweight division. No weapons formed against us shall prosper,” said James Prince, Ward’s manager.

 

Em Março 26, before a hometown crowd, pound for pound star Andre Ward returns to HBO in his light heavyweight debut against undefeated Sullivan Barrera” said Peter Nelson, Vice-Presidente Executivo, HBO Sports. “With a perfect record dating back to the age of 12 anos, Andre has risen to every challenge as both an amateur and a professional, including world titles and an Olympic gold medal. Agora, he takes on Barrera, one of the toughest challengers as Ward moves up the scale. Boxing fans won’t want to miss it.”

 

Conhecido por seu caráter forte e integridade fora do ringue e seu instinto de guerreiro dentro dele, Ward’s skill and talent were apparent early in his outstanding amateur career. Ele acumulou todos os títulos nos livros, culminando com uma medalha de ouro na divisão dos meio-pesados ​​no 2004 Jogos Olímpicos de Atenas. Como o único boxeador americano masculino para reivindicar o ouro olímpico desde 1996, Ward juntou os gostos de Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard e Oscar De La Hoya. Tornou-se profissional em dezembro 18, 2004, marcando uma segunda rodada vitória por nocaute técnico sobre Chris Molina no Staples Center, em uma luta que foi televisionado ao vivo pela HBO. Ele passou a acumular 27 mais vitórias desde então, a construção de uma legião crescente de fãs no processo. Depois de se tornar a revista Ring e WBA Super campeão dos médios do Mundo, subindo para o segundo lugar na lista pound-for-pound e ganhar o 2011 Lutador do Ano (ESPN, Sports Illustrated, Revista Anel e escritores Boxing Association of America), foi anunciado que Ward assinou um acordo de exclusividade promocional com Roc Nation Sports em janeiro 2015, abrindo um novo capítulo em sua carreira de boxe andares. O produto Bay Area voltou ao ringue em junho 20, 2015 no Oracle Arena em frente de seus fãs cidade natal em Oakland, Califórnia e marcou um nocaute nona rodada sobre Paul Smith, continuing his unbeaten streak which dates back to when he was a 13-year-old amateur. Ward recentemente entrou na frente da câmera para um papel completamente diferente, a part in the New Line/Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer/Warner Bros. feature “Creed.” Fellow Bay Area natives, diretor Ryan Coogler e astro do filme, Michael B. Jordânia, estendeu a mão para Ward para que ele pudesse oferecer sua experiência para o filme. Além de trabalhar na frente da câmera com Ward, Jordan passou um tempo em casa ginásio de Ward, em preparação para seu papel como o filho de Apollo Creed. Now it’s time for Ward to get back to his day job when he faces the undefeated Barrera on Março 26.

 

Born in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Barrera had an impressive amateur run with a record of 285-27. Como amador, he was able to earn World Amateur Championships in Germany, Cuba, Venezuela and Central America. During his amateur career he also defeated former Light Heavyweight World Champions Chad Dawson and Beibut Shumenov. Following his defection from Cuba, where he was a member of the country’s national team, Barrera made his professional debut in 2009 with a first round technical knockout win over Anthony Adorno in his adopted hometown of Miami, Florida. He would go on to knockout the first five opponents he faced in his professional career in either the first or second round. Barrera made his television debut in January of 2015 with his appearance on ESPN’sSexta-feira Night Fights, when he scored a fourth round knockout win over former Super Middleweight World Champion Jeff Lacy. Barrera quietly rose through the ratings of the light heavyweight division until he was afforded the opportunity to fight former Light Heavyweight World Title Challenger Karo Murat to become the IBF’s number one rated light heavyweight contender. Barrera seized the opportunity, knocking out Murat in the fifth round on December 12, 2015 in his HBO Latino Boxing debut at the Civic Auditorium in Glendale, Califórnia. Sullivan is trained by legendary trainer, Abel Sanchez, who is best known for his work with middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin. When he is not at The Summit in Big Bear Lake, California training with Sanchez, Barrera resides in Miami, Florida.

 

Ward vs. Barrera, a 12-round fight which is presented by Roc Nation Sports in association with Main Events, tem lugar Sábado, Março 26, 2016 na Oracle Arena, em Oakland, California and will be televised live on HBO World Championship Boxing beginning at 9:45 p.m. E/PT. Follow the conversation using #WardBarrera.

 

Para obter mais informações, visite www.rocnation.com. Siga Roc Nation no Twitter e Instagramrocnation e no Facebook em www.facebook.com/RocNation.

 

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