By Ben Jacobs

Sullivan Barrera is walking tall following his performance against Vyacheslav Shabranskyy last week in California.  The Cuban, who was the underdog prior to the bout, managed to stop his Ukrainian opponent in the seventh round in what was overall an impressive display.

Barrera recently made the move from the west coast where he was training with acclaimed coach Abel Sánchez to South Florida where his family live, and began to work with Derik Santos at the Boca Pal Gym.  Santos spoke to BoxingScene.com this week, beaming at a well-executed victory from his charge.

“When Sullivan first came to the gym, I knew he was strong,” he enthused.    “I started seeing him move around and I tweaked some angles, I started preaching to him about how I didn’t want him to come straight forward.

“I saw he liked to counter, he was a bit of a slow starter in the initial sparring sessions, but I had to get him away from the thought that he had to throw everything hard.  I told him as I worked with him on the mitts that he hit hard without having to force the shot.  I said, ‘Let your hands go and when you see the opening for something harder then you push for that.’  Then we worked on his feints and movement and I noticed he could really box.  He listened to everything I said.”

Barrera dropped his opponent in the first round but visited the canvas himself in the following stanza in what was shaping up to be a shootout between two bangers.

“He got careless in the second round because he dropped Shabranskyy in the first,” Santos explained. 

“I noticed he was jumping in, people just said it was an off balance hit to the head but what started it was when he dipped his head left with his hands down and gets hit on top of the temple by an uppercut which threw him off balance.  When he got back to the corner I told him not to jump in anymore and you can see I’m showing him the movement.  You don’t have to scream at a guy, you just give instructions.

“I had watched Shabransky’s tapes, we worked on shooting over his left with the right, constantly.  As you can see in the fight he got hit by a bunch of right hands.  I told Sullivan that we have to beat him with a jab.  I said let’s come out with a jab, double up to the body and the head.  His jab was faster and that was essential to the plan.”

Santos, now a full-time trainer was previously chief assistant to John David Jackson who trains Sergey Kovalev and also took charge of Bernard Hopkins’ final camp.  The Boca Raton based coach explained why he and Jackson have split, albeit amicably.

“I was co training Curtis Stevens and Bryant Jennings but I’m not sure what that situation will be now,” he admitted. 

“I was John David Jackson’s main assistant for many years.  I do believe that any trainer should start with amateur fighters as you can build them up from the start.  When I started working with John David Jackson I had to change my style.  As time moves on you get more confident and you get your own ideas but it came to the point that we weren’t on the same playing field all the time about what a fighter needs. 

“I said that in order for me to grow I need to be at the helm.  We had a good run together, we will stay friends but I have too many different thoughts on how things should be done.  Those are his fighters (Stevens and Jennings) per se, I was the assistant trainer and I keep in touch with all those guys.  I used to work with Sergey Kovalev, Nate Campbell, Randall Bailey, Luis Arias, those guys I’m constantly communicating with just to see how they’re doing, how their families are.  I care about these guys.”

In terms of how Barrera looked in the ring last Friday, Derik himself has received much praise over the past few days for what he was able to achieve in training camp with the 34-year-old.

“I’m flattered by what some people have said.  I’m happy, I work hard and I’m not egotistical but of course I want to make a name for myself.  I’m in this for the right reason and I want to be known among my peers. 

“If I’m included in that list of people who are good at their job I will be very happy.  So maybe this was a bit of a break out fight for me.”