Sullivan Barrera (22-2, 14 KOs) defeated a very tough but limited Seanie Monaghan (29-2, 17 KOs) last Saturday from The Aviator in Brooklyn, New York.
It was a decent performance by Barrera who is looking to get back into the title hunt. Unfortunately for him all of the champs of the division are virtually all booked.
Artur Beterbiev has a fight coming up against Joe Smith Jr., Eleider Alvarez has to rematch Sergey Kovalev in February, Adonis Stevenson will have his hands full in December against Oleksandr Gvozdyk and Dmitry Bivol just recently defeated Barrera earlier this year so a rematch is unlikely at this point.
While a title shot will not be in his immediate future, that does not mean he won’t have options.
Even if the other champs were available Barrera still has some work to do in order to get a shot at one of them and it is likely that any decent sports book would have the Cuban title contender as a heavy underdog if he were able to get another title fight.
Let’s take a look at who Barrera should take on next.
Callum Johnson
The top of the Light Heavyweight division is filled with guys with plenty of punching power. Guys like Adonis Stevenson, Sergey Kovalev and even Eleider Alvarez all have dynamite in their fists.
Although a guy like Callum Johnson is not necessarily a threat to any of those guys, he does have knockout power himself.
12 of his 17 wins have come via knockout and in his most recent fight he floored current IBF champion Artur Beterbiev and almost came up with the upset.
If Sullivan Barrera wants to compete with of the tops guys then he’s going to have to go through fire.
Fighting a guy like Johnson can prepare him for some of those tougher fights. If he can’t get past Johnson then he doesn’t belong at the top of the division.
Marcus Browne
Marcus Browne (22-0, 16 KOs) has had a very stellar career so far. He seemed poised to make a lot of noise in the division.
Earlier this year he was scheduled to take on now former WBO champion Sergey Kovalev for his title.
Although Kovalev is still a great fighter, back to back losses to recently retired former pound-for-pound No. 1 fighter in the world Andre Ward took some of the luster off of him.
It seemed as though Browne was being positioned to possibly dethrone him.
Unfortunately for Browne a domestic violence case shelved the fight. Eleider Alvarez stepped in for Browne and subsequently defeated Kovalev to become champion.
A matchup between Browne and Sullivan Barrera would be a tantalizing one. Browne needs to first get past his legal troubles but once that’s behind him the winner of this fight would be next in line for a title shot.
Badou Jack
Sullivan Barrera’s win over Seanie Monaghan was a solid one but that’s all. Monaghan is no world beater nor is he a true in contender in the Light Heavyweight division. So a win over him wouldn’t really justify a title shot for Barrera.
He should instead be matched up with much tougher competition and someone who is an actual threat in the division.
In steps Badou Jack. A former Super Middleweight champ and former Light Heavyweight champ. (Although he only he held the WBA regular Light Heavyweight title but I suppose it still counts right?).
He is also a guy that many believe (myself included) actually defeated current WBC titleist Adonis Stevenson. Too some it all up, Jack is good. He’s very good. If Barrera manages to get past him then that’s a real statement.
Did I miss anyone? Who do you want to see Sullivan Barrera jump in the ring with next?
