By Scott Gilfoid: WBA/WBC super middleweight champion Andre Ward (25-0, 13 KO’s) doesn’t plan on letting up after beating some of the best fighters in the super middleweight division in the Super Six tournament.

Ward wants a big name for his next fight in 2012 and doesn’t want to take the soft route that a lot of champions typically take after having fought a good opponent.

In an interview at fighthype.com, Ward mentioned the following fighters that he’d be interested in possibly fighting next: Nathan Cleverly, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., Sergio Martinez, Robert Stieglitz, and Mikkel Kessler. Ward also mentioned his #1 mandatory challenger Anthony Dirrell as a possibility as well.

Ward sees Chavez Jr. and Martinez as being catchweight fights for him if he can work something out with one of the two fighters. It’s unclear how serious Ward is about wanting to fight either of them because he didn’t appear to be really excited by the fights when talking about them.

The two fighters that Ward showed the most enthusiasm for fighting is Stieglitz and Kessler. Ward would like to face Stieglitz in April and then fight Kessler in his bout after that once Ward has Stieglitz’s WBO strap. Ward wants to fight Kessler again because the Danish fighter has been making excuses for his earlier loss to Ward in 2009 by saying that he was affected by the accidental headbutts from Ward and that’s why had lost.

Ward wants to fight Kessler again and prove that his win over him in the past wasn’t just because Kessler suffered a couple of cuts. As for Ward getting a fight with Stieglitz in April, I don’t see that happening. I think Stieglitz will take the Kessler fight because Kessler has a following in Germany and he might be a better opponent to bring in fans compared to Ward.

I think Ward may end up fighting Dirrell next because it’s the easiest fight to make. Chavez’s promoter Bob Arum probably won’t let Chavez Jr. fight him. And Martinez has seemed reluctant to fight super middleweights in the past. I doubt he’d want to fight the guy that’s considered the best of the super middleweights in Ward.

Martinez will probably stay far away from Ward, although he’ll stick every once in a while to make it seem like he’s interested in fighting him but I don’t think he is. Ward won’t get a fight with Cleverly because he seems to be on a soft diet in terms of opposition and is looking for a fight against 47-year-old Hopkins.

I can’t see Cleverly’s promoter putting him with someone who would not only beat Cleverly but embarrass him in the process. So although Ward is optimistic about his chances to land a big fight against a number of opponents, I think he doesn’t understand that most fighters duck tough fights and typically only take fights they know they’re going to win unless it’s a mandatory they’re being forced to fulfill.

The only fighter that I can see out of that bunch who isn’t afraid to fight Ward is Anthony Dirrell. The rest of them I think will be gone like rats running from a cat if Ward starts calling them out.