Andre Ward’s return to HBO will net him a purse of just under $2,000,000 against fellow undefeated fighter Sullivan Barrera.
HBO’s World Championship Boxing returns tonight with a light heavyweight main event between Andre Ward (28-0, 15 KOs) and Sullivan Barrera (17-0, 12 KOs). Ward, a native of the San Francisco Bay Area, will have the hometown fans cheering him on at Oakland, California’s Oracle Arena. The fight purses have been revealed for the night’s two televised fights, and unsurprisingly Ward is the runaway top earner.
#WardBarrera purses from commission: Ward $1.85 million. Barrera $450,000. Diaz $50K. Velez $30K. #boxing
— Mike Coppinger (@MikeCoppinger) March 25, 2016
More: Ward vs Barrera preview: One more stop on the road to Ward vs. Kovalev?
This fight is Ward’s first of three on his new HBO contract, which includes a big showdown with consensus #1 LHW Sergey Kovalev (29-0-1, 26 KOs). Ward’s return to the ring in 2015, which ended in a TKO win over Paul Smith in a tune-up bout, saw him score a $2 million purse. The former super middleweight (168 lbs) champion had previously been out of action for nearly 2 years due to injuries and a contract dispute with his former promoter, the late Dan Goossen.
Here are Ward’s recent fight purses (as recent as they can be):
vs. Paul Smith (June 2015) – $2 million
vs. Edwin Rodriguez (November 2013) – $1.9 million
vs. Chad Dawson (September 2012) – $1,367,500
vs. Carl Froch (December 2011) – $900,000
Barrera’s purse is almost surely a career high, especially given the fact he hasn’t faced too many notable faces in his division.
The co-main event is a 126 lbs matchup between 23-year-old prospect Joseph Diaz Jr. (19-0, 11 KOs) and Jayson Velez (23-1-1, 16 KOs) for an alphabet soup title (NABF). Velez had a $75,000 purse in his loss to Ronny Rios on the Cotto vs. Canelo PPV card, so this is a big drop for him tonight.
More: Ward vs Barrera fight odds: Andre Ward heavy favorite over Sullivan Barrera on HBO
HBO World Championship Boxing airs live tonight at 9:45 PM ET/PT.