Unified light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev is surprised Sullivan Barrera was able to last the entire twelve round distance with Andre Ward, who has unanimously outpointed the Cuban fighter in his light heavyweight debut to set the stage for a potential fight against in the fall

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.

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

All three judges had Ward winning easily. The scores were 117-109, 119-109 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 match in 2014. Talks between both camps have been ongoing, things are expected to heat up now.

Both Kovalev and Ward are probably going to take another set of interim bouts before facing each other, potentially in November. Kovalev is looking at a potential fight in June, while Ward's targeted timeline for his return date is unknown.  

"My prediction is complete," Kovalev said. "[I said] that it would be easy for Ward. I felt that he would stop Barrera early. But Barrera did better than I expected. I am very happy that he won and it takes me one more step to our possible fight. It's possible because we have to win one fight more, than after that our fight.