By Elisinio Castillo

Sullivan Barrera, one of the best contenders in the light heavyweight division, acknowledged that his team is in serious discussions which are aimed at securing a clash against Sergey Kovalev (30-2-1, 26 KOs) before the end of 2017.

"We are in negotiations with Main Events to possibly face Kovalev this November at Madison Square Garden," Barrera (20-1, 14 KO) said to George Ebro.

"I am preparing for whoever, Kovalev or Adonis Stevenson. I trust the work of my manager Luis Molina and we hope that something good will happen in my career in the coming months. ''

Both Barrera and Kovalev are promoted by Main Events.

After losing by way of unanimous decision against current IBF, WBA, WBO world champion Andre Ward in March 2016 - Barrera was able to rebuild his career in style with victories over Vyacheslav Shabranskyy, Paul Parker and Joe Smith Jr. - and all three contests were televised on HBO.

These victories reaffirmed Barrera's place among the best 175-pounders at the moment and has paved the way for a fight against Kovalev, who is still considered a force in the division.

"I'm in a moment of my career where I'm only interested in big fights," Barrera added. "I would love to face Kovalev. A victory over him would be important not only in the personal pride section, but also because of the possibility that it would open me up to continue growing in the sport. I just hope the negotiations will come to fruition.''

Kovalev is also looking to rebuild his career after back to back defeats to Ward. He lost what some felt was a controversial twelve round unanimous decision to Ward last November at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Kovalev exercised the option for an immediate rematch, which took place in June, and this time saw Ward win by way of a TKO at Las Vegas' Mandalay Bay.