Sullivan Barrera vs Jesse Hart Preview June 15th
Sullivan Barrera of Cuba will be taking on Jesse Hart of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in a 10-round light heavyweight bout this Saturday, June 15th. The fight takes place at at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada this Saturday and can be seen in the USA on ESPN+ and ESPN Deportes. Fans in the UK can catch the action on BT Sport Box Office. Barrera last fought in November when he beat Sean Monaghan via a 10-round unanimous decision. Hart’s last contest took place in December when he lost a rematch to WBO Super Middleweight Champion Gilberto Ramirez by majority decision.
Barrera vs Hart Betting Odds
Here are the betting odds from online sportsbook BetOnline.ag (full review here).
- Sullivan Barrera +221
- Jesse Hart -266
My Pick
The 37-year-old Barrera fights out of Miami and has a record of 22-2 with 14 Kos under his belt. He had a pretty good amateur career and was a two-time bronze medalist at the Cuban national championships in 2002 and 2003. Barrera stands 6-feet-2-inches tall and has a 73-inch reach. He turned pro in 2009 and has boxed 136 rounds since then. He’s not known as a heavy hitter due to his superb boxing skills, but has a good current knockout ratio of 58 per cent. He’s been dropped and stopped before and has a somewhat questionable chin. Barrera has a good selection of punches to choose from, has an effective jab and doesn’t mind the infighting either.
His first loss came in March of 2016 when Andre Ward beat him by a 12-round unanimous decision with his only other defeat coming at the hands of WBA Light Heavyweight Champion Dmitry Bivol by 12th-round stoppage in March, 2018. Barrera’s best career wins have been against Felix Valera, Joe Smith Jr, Vyacheslav Shabranskyy, Jeff Lacy and Karo Murat and stopped the latter three. He’s captured the WBC International and WBC USNBC, WBA Fedlatin, and WBO Latino Light Heavyweight Titles since turning pro, but has never won a world title.
Jesse Hart is a 29-year-old former amateur standout, U.S. Olympic alternate and Golden Gloves Champion. He turned pro back in 2012 and has racked up an impressive record of 25-2 since then with 21 Kos under his belt in a total of 114 pro rounds. He’s an inch taller than Barrera at 6-foot-3 and has a 77.5-inch reach for a 4.5-inch advantage there. There’s no doubt Hart has better than average power as his current knockout ratio stands at 78 per cent. The only problem with Hart is his lack of experience against quality opponents other than Ramirez, Derrick Findley and Mike Jiminez.
In his first bout against Ramirez, Hart gave as good as he got but fell short on the judges’ scorecards with results of 115-112, 115-112 and 114-113 and he was dropped by the champion in the second round. Before the rematch he stopped Thomas Awimbono, Demond Nicholson and Mike Gavronski in the the first, seventh and third rounds respectively. Hart will also be moving up in weight against Barrera as this is a 175 lb light heavyweight tilt.
Prediction…
Even though Barrera has the edge in experience he can’t take Hart lightly since he’s just as big and has more power. Hart is also nine years younger and also possesses fine boxing skills. Barrera’s a slow starter though and his chin isn’t the greatest. I think the combination of Hart’s youth, power, size and skills may be just enough to win this fight.
A close call, but Barrera’s on the downside of his career now.
Play: Hart -266 @ BetOnline.ag
Check out my recent boxing betting picks to see my current form.
Jesse Hart betting • Sullivan Barrera betting