On Saturday, April 15, 2017, Sullivan Barrera (19-1, 14 KOs) scored a fifth-round TKO victory against Paul Parker (8-2, 4 KOs) at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut.
The scheduled 10-round Light Heavyweight fight was televised on HBO Latino in the U.S.
In the opening round, Barrera was aggressive and tried to land shots on the inside. Already apparent was the fact that Parker’s southpaw styles would not mesh well with Sullivan’s aggression.
After eating a right hand, Barrera landed a right hand on Parker that eventually dropped him after several more punches.
After taking a short break due to yet another accidental head-butt, Barrera dropped Parker with a counter left hook that send him reeling onto the ropes, which Barrera attempted to follow with a right hand.
Parker got back to his feet, but only to be stopped by technical knockout due to another flurry by Barrera.
“I feel great. Paul Parker is a great boxer but the only time he hurt me was with the head butt,” said Barrera.
“I guess what happened with the head butt and everything, finally in the fifth round I was able to hit him as I wanted and everything went exactly the way I wanted it to. I am ready for the next level!,” said Barrera.
In his post-fight interview with HBO Latino, Barrera called out Joe Smith Jr., who had a standout year in 2016 with stoppage victories against Bernard Hopkins and Andrzej Fonfara.
In the comments section, let us know who you think would win a potential Barrera-Smith Jr. matchup.
All Photos by Ray Bailey/Main Events
In the co-main event, Vaughn Alexander scored a 10-round unanimous decision victory against Andres Calixto Rey.
Though Alexander demonstrated some technical flaws–namely, defensive holes and over-reliance on power shots–he was able to utterly dominate an overmatched opponent in Rey.
Rey was deducted a point for holding while punching in Round 10, but it made no difference as he was extremely behind on the score cards, which were 99-90, 99-90, and 100-89 for Alexander.
