World Championship Boxing returns Saturday from Oakland

HBO Boxing heads to the Bay Area for an action-packed doubleheader featuring a top pound-for-pound fighter and one of the sport’s most-heralded prospects when WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING: ANDRE WARD VS. SULLIVAN BARRERA AND JOSEPH DIAZ JR. VS. JAYSON VELEZ is seen SATURDAY, MARCH 26 at 9:45 p.m. (live ET/tape-delayed PT) from the Oracle Arena in Oakland, Cal., exclusively on HBO. The HBO Sports team will call the action, which will be available in HDTV, closed-captioned for the hearing-impaired and presented in Spanish on HBO Latino.
Other HBO playdates: March 27 (9:00 a.m.) and 29 (11:30 p.m.)
HBO2 playdates: March 27 (3:00 p.m.) and 28 (12:15 a.m.)
The doubleheader will also be available on HBO NOW, HBO GO and HBO On Demand.
Making his 2016 debut before a hometown crowd, Andre Ward (28-0, 15 KOs) moves up to 175 pounds to battle Cuban native Sullivan Barrera (17-0, 12 KOs) of Miami, Fla., in a light heavyweight bout scheduled for 12 rounds. Ward, 32, has succeeded at every level, compiling a nearly perfect record as an amateur, winning a gold medal in the light heavyweight division at the 2008 Olympic Games in Athens and enjoying a seven-year reign as super middleweight champ. This will mark Ward’s sixth fight at Oracle Arena and fifth on HBO.
Barrera, 34, is also unbeaten and holds a three-fight knockout streak. Since his 2009 pro debut following a standout amateur career in Cuba, he has fought nearly all his bouts as a light heavyweight, which should give him an advantage over the shorter Ward. Barrera will be making his HBO debut, having previously appeared on HBO Latino.
In the evening’s co-feature, Joseph Diaz Jr. (19-0, 11 KOs) puts his undefeated record on the line against Jayson Velez (23-1-1, 16 KOs) in a featherweight contest scheduled for ten rounds. Rising prospect Diaz, 23, is coming off a busy 2015 in which he logged five impressive wins, and will be making his HBO debut. Velez, 27, looks to rebound from his first professional loss, to Ronny Rios in November. Appearing on HBO in 2014, Velez battled Evgeny Gradovich to a split draw in his first world title shot.
Immediately following the telecast, HBO will present the debut of the half-hour special “Legacy on the Line: From Bradley to Pacquiao,” previewing the April 9 pay-per-view event.
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All HBO boxing events are presented in HDTV. HBO viewers must have access to the HBO HDTV channel to watch HBO programming in high definition.
The executive producer of WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING is Rick Bernstein; producer, Dave Harmon; director, Johnathan Evans.
® WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING is a registered service mark of Home Box Office, Inc.