Nearly eight months after losing in his first world title fight, Sullivan Barrera did just enough to keep himself in title contention in his latest fight.
Headlining a boxing card streamed exclusively on Facebook, Barrera scored a unanimous decision by a wide margin over perennial top 15 contender Seanie Monaghan. Barrera won with two judges scoring the fight in his favor 99-91 and a third judge giving Barrera the win 98-92.
Barrera had little trouble landing power shots on Monaghan, outlanding him 144 to 72 throughout the 10 rounds. Barrera landed the left hand at times throughout the fight and it started to take a toll on Monaghan's face. Monaghan was bruised and even was bleeding from around the eyes due to the constant punishment received by Barrera. But Monaghan proved to be tough and able to take big power shots, however, he was unable to land anything that would hurt Barrera.
It was Barrera's first win since losing to WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol in an HBO card from Madison Square Garden back in March. After the loss, Barrera and Monaghan were supposed to fight this summer, but Barrera suffered an eye injury which postponed the fight.
Now that Barrera is back to his winning ways, he will be looking to make a run at a light heavyweight world title. Not only is Barrera ranked by the WBC (No. 13) and the WBA (No. 4), but the win over Monaghan, ranked by the IBF and WBO would likely mean the Cuban former title challenger will be on the board to challenge for any of the 175-pound titles.
