By Ryan Burton

OAKLAND, CA – On Thursday, March 24, fighters featured on the Andre Ward (28-0, 15 KOs) vs. Sullivan Barrera (17-0, 12 KOs) undercard participated in a media workout at King’s Gym in Oakland, California in advance of their March 26 fights at Oracle Arena in Oakland.

Participating in the workout were Roc Nation Sports’ boxing standouts including NABO Junior Welterweight Champion Maurice “Mighty Mo” Hooker (19-0-2, 14 KOs) of Oak Cliff, Texas; undefeated Daniel “Twitch” Franco (12-0-3, 7 KOs) of Rancho Cucamonga, California; unbeaten prospect from Salinas, California Rudy “The Revelation” Puja Jr. (7-0, 6 KOs); and undefeated Junior “The Young God” Younan (7-0, 6 KOs) of Brooklyn, New York. Also in attendance were Chinese Olympic Silver Medalist Zhang “Big Bang” Zhilei (7-0, 5 KOs) and local Hayward, California favorite Aaron Coley (12-1-1, 6 KOs).

Hooker faces Wilfrido “La Roca” Buelvas (17-5, 11 KOs) of Barranquilla, Colombia in a ten-round junior welterweight bout, Franco meets Mexican veteran German “Panteonero” Meraz (52-37-1, 30 KOs) in an eight-round featherweight fight, Puga Jr. looks to extend his undefeated streak against Carlos “Kalimba” Lozano (7-5, 4 KOs) of Ensenada, Mexico in a six-round super middleweight clash, Younan returns to the ring on March 26 after a nine-month layoff to take on Cristian Solorzano (4-7, 3 KOs) of Sonora, Mexico in a four-round light heavyweight fight, Zhang takes on Tyree Ortiz (5-2, 4 KOs) of Los Angeles in a four round heavyweight battle and Coley faces a very stern test in a six-round middleweight fight against Urmat Ryskeldiev (11-3-2, 7 KOs) of West Hollywood, California.

After shadow boxing around in the ring and a few rounds on the punching bag, all fighters participated in interviews with media members in attendance.

Ward vs. Barrera, a 12-round IBF number one position and mandatory position eliminator which is presented by Roc Nation Sports in association with Main Events, takes place Saturday, March 26, 2016 at Oracle Arena in Oakland, California.  The event is sponsored by Corona Extra, Ticketmaster, Corporate Travel Management Solutions (ctms), Glad, Lyft, Zappos, BodyArmor, SAN Nutrition, Shoe Palace, The Waterfront Hotel and Visit Oakland. The event will be televised live on HBO World Championship Boxing beginning at 9:45 p.m. ET/PT.  Opening the HBO telecast will be Joseph Diaz Jr. vs. Jayson Velez in a 10-round fight for the NABF Featherweight title presented by Golden Boy Promotions in association with Miguel Cotto Promotions.

Tickets priced at $300, $150, $100, $50 and $25, not including applicable service charges and taxes are available at all Ticketmaster locations, online at Ticketmaster.com (bit.ly/WardBarreraTix) and charge by phone at (800) 745-3000.