Sergey Kovalev vs. Sullivan Barrera Set For April 25, Four Title Fights On DAZN Card
Sergey Kovalev’s first fight since losing his WBO light heavyweight title is set.
Golden Boy Promotions announced that Kovalev will fight Sullivan Barrera in a cruiserweight bout that will headline a DAZN card from the Fantasy Spring Resorts Casino on April 25.
Kovalev, a former unified champion at 175 pounds, last fought in November when he suffered an 11th round KO loss to Canelo Alvarez in Las Vegas. the capped off a year that saw Kovalev win back the WBO title in February and then later defend the belt in Russia this past August before facing Alvarez.
Barrera is a former title challenger who has struggled to find consistent results inside the ring. After wins over Felix Valera and Joe Smith Jr., Barrera unsuccessfully challenged for the WBA light heavyweight title in 2018, getting stopped by Dmitry Bivol in the 12th round. After a bounceback win over Sean Monaghan, Barrera dropped a 10-round decision to Jesse Hart this past June.
But the fight between Kovalev and Barrera isn’t the only notable one taking place on the card. Golden Boy Promotions also announced not one, but four title fights on the undercard. One such fight will feature WBO junior middleweight champion Patrick Teixeira defending his title for the first time against Brian Castano.
The next fight is a WBA “Regular” super featherweight title bout between titleholder Rene Alvarado and challenger Roger Gutierrez. Alvarado is coming off a seventh-round win over Andrew Cancio to win the title back in November while Gutierrez has won his last five fights.
In his United States debut, WBC minimumweight champion Wanheng Menayothin will defend his title against Marco Rementizo. Menayothin holds the distinction of having boxing’s longest active win streak, coming into the bout with a 53-0 record and having held the WBC title since 2014.
The fourth title fight announced will have IBF light flyweight champion Felix Alvarado face off against former world champion DeeJay Kriel. This will be Alvarado’s second title defense since winning the title back in 2018 and Kriel is looking to become a two-division champion after a brief reign as the IBF minimumweight champion back in 2019.
On the undercard, former super featherweight titlist Alberto Machado will take on Cristian Baez, while Diego De La Hoya faces Manuel Avila and Shane Mosley Jr. makes his Golden Boy Promotions debut against Abraham Cordero.
