HBO Latino Quick Pick

Barrera connecting with a right hand

Sullivan Barrera vs. Paul Parker: On Saturday night HBO will air a fight card on their HBO Latino channel.  That card will be headlined by a fight between two one-loss fighters in Sullivan Barrera (18-1, 13 KO) and Paul Parker (8-1, 4 KO).  That fight is scheduled to go 10 rounds in the crowded light heavyweight division where Barrera has already fought, and lost to, one of the best in Andre Ward.  Parker's biggest fight came against Vyacheslav Shabranskyy who also happens to be Barrera's most recent opponent.  While Parker got knocked out in the third round of that fight, Barrera did much better, dropping Shabranskyy three times, the last of which ended the fight.  Barrera is an orthodox fighter with a pretty good jab and a strong straight right hand.  He also has a nice overhand right and while he doesn't use his left hook much it isn't a bad punch for him.  Barrera's only career loss came against Ward and he was totally dominated in that fight.  However, in his fight just after that against Shabranskyy he looked better than ever and he may have learned a lot from being in the ring with a fighter at the elite level like Ward is.  Parker is a lanky fighter who works out of the orthodox stance.  He likes to fight behind a busy jab and has a short right hand that can catch an opponent coming in and do damage.  However, at times when he throws his right hand he really lunges forward and exposes his chin and his left hook isn't very skilled.  If Barrera looks as good as he did his last time in the ring he should have no problem handling Parker.  Parker may try to control the action from the outside with his long jab but he won't be able to keep Barrera at the end of that jab and Barrera is going to win this fight fairly easily via unanimous decision.