Photos: Ward Crashes 175, Beats Barrera MONSTER Gallery

OAKLAND, California — Before a crowd of 8,532 fans - Andre Ward unanimously outpointed Sullivan Barrera in his light heavyweight debut Saturday night, setting the stage for a potential title fight against unified champion Sergey Kovalev.

Ending a nine-month layoff while fighting for just the fourth time in four years, Ward (29-0) knocked down 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.

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

ward-barrera-fight (24) 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 match in 2014. While talks between both camps have been ongoing, things are expected to heat up now.

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

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“I feel like I got some ring rust off,” said Ward, who hadn’t fought in nine months. “I am so proud to be able to win in front of the home crowd. I know I said I wouldn’t use the long layoff as an excuse, but I was still able to win when I wasn’t at my best. I feel like if I got the right shots in, I could have stopped him.”

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Regarding Kovalev, Ward is not sure if that's going to be the next fight. More than likely, he will fight once more before facing Kovalev in the fall.

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“I will let my team figure that out,” Ward said. “Kovalev is not going to be a problem. He is a great champion, but I always fight the best and he’s just another name.”

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