By Elisinio Castillo

Light heavyweight contender Sullivan Barrera (21-1, 14 KO) and his team have brought in former world champion Chris Algieri to use as a nutritionist to further prepare for the upcoming showdown with WBA world champion Dmitry Bivol on March 3rd at the The Theater in Madison Square Garden in New York City.

Algieri, who was a WBO junior welterweight world champion when he defeated Ruslan Provodnikov, joined the Cuban's camp a few days ago.

"We believe that he has been a tremendous help to Sullivan," said Luis Molina, manager of Barrera, to George Ebro. "He feeds Sullivan in a correct way that allows him to lose weight without jolting and without the need to stop eating. We hope that Chris's experience will help us succeed in New York. ''

Algieri gained notoriety in the ring by beating Provodnikov in 2014, in what was a huge upset. He put together a game plan of throwing a lot of punches, with an intelligent strategy of boxing with movements and combinations at a distance.

This unexpected victory earned him a big payday, five months later, when he traveled over to Macau to be measured against Manny Pacquiao. Algieri showed heart in the contest, as he went down six times and managed to last until the end to lose a unanimous decision.

However, many did not know that the talented boxer, who was also a Kickboxing champion, was a health care graduate from Stony Brook University in New York and had begun to care for the diets of several fighters within mixed martial arts and boxing.

The revelation came in March 2017, when HBO's cameras showed how Algieri cooked Daniel Jacobs' meals - as the Brooklyn native was training for his pay-per-view fight with middleweight king Gennady Golovkin.

Algieri (21-3, 8 KO) has achieved notoriety as a nutritionist because of the manner in which he cares for his clients' food; he controls the weight reduction without causing physical traumas, and even helps in the actual fight preparation with advice.

Barrera, who is a light heavyweight with impressive muscle mass, confessed that he is already 187 pounds and stated "I'm eating like never before."

"My training is 100 percent up and I am very happy to have Chris Algieri as my nutritionist," said Barrera, "I am taking a special diet for the biggest fight of my career."