Ward's dance card getting crowded

Olympic champ eyeing Kovalev after lopsided win over Barrera

Andre Ward lost a point for a low blow in the eighth and later drew a warning for an accidental head butt, but that wasn't enough to slow the 2004 Olympic champion's march toward a possible title fight in his new division.

In his debut at light heavyweight on Saturday night, Ward unanimously outpointed No 1-ranked Sullivan Barrera to become the IBF's mandatory challenger and set the stage for a potential showdown against unified champ Sergey Kovalev.

"It feels great," Ward said. "I feel like I shook off a lot of ring rust. I had high expectations for this fight, but I think I got it done. I need to tighten things up a bit. I have a lot to prove in this division."

Ending a nine-month layoff while fighting for just the fourth time in four years, Ward (29-0) dropped Barrera in the second round with a sharp left.

The 34-year-old Cuban bounced up quickly before Ward landed another pair of stinging lefts to the head.

About the only thing to go wrong for Ward came late in the eighth when referee Raul Caiz deducted a point for a low blow that sent Barrera (17-1) down to one knee.

All three judges had Ward winning easily, by scores of 119-109, 117-109 and 117-108.

The win paves the way for Ward to fight Kovalev, the Russian slugger who has defended his title three times since beating Bernard Hopkins in a unification bout in 2014.

While talks between the two camps have been ongoing, things are expected to heat up now.

"Sergey Kovalev is a great champion," Ward said. "I fight the best. I always fight the best and he's just another name."

In front of a noisy hometown crowd of 8,500 at Oracle Arena, Ward was the quicker fighter most of the night and used his jab to score often, mixing it with a powerful left hook that landed to the head frequently. He also eluded most of Barrera's punches and at one point in the sixth smiled after Barrera swung and missed twice.

"We showed great boxing ability coming off this layoff," said Virgil Hunter, Ward's longtime trainer and mentor.

"He showed good boxing ability, great defense and rhythm. Now it's about getting rounds in."

Barrera, the IBF's No 1 contender going into the fight, landed his jab with some success but couldn't put much together and lost for the first time in his career.

NBA MVP Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors watched the fight from ringside not far from Oakland Raiders owner Mark Davis. Former NFL running back Marshawn Lynn and former world boxing champions Roy Jones Jr. and Shane Mosley also were on hand.

Kovalev, who called Ward a "gentleman, a nice man" before the fight, was in the crowd as well.

The 32-year-old Russian said a matchup against the former super middleweight world champion would be the biggest challenge of his career.

"November is a great time," Kovalev said. "Let's do it, me and him."

Kovalev and Ward could each have another tune-up before their eventual clash, which is expected to be on pay-per-view.

"It's going to be explosive - the opposite from Mayweather-Pacquiao in every way," said Main Events promoter Kathy Duva, whose stable includes Kovalev.