Andre Ward possible for Cotto-Canelo undercard on November 21st

By Boxing News - 07/31/2015 - Comments

ward44444By Allan Fox: WBA super middleweight champion Andre Ward (30-0, 15 KOs) could wind up fighting on the undercard of the November 21st fight card headlined by WBC middleweight champion Miguel Cotto vs. Saul “Canelo” Alvarez on HBO pay-per-view from Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. Ward would be in the co-feature bout. For him to be in the co-feature, it will take a good opponent. It can’t be another Paul Smith caliber opponent for Ward. He has to face a live body.

Ward, 31, is with Roc Nation Sports, the same promoters that Cotto is with. It makes sense for Ward to be on the undercard of the Cotto vs. Canelo fight because he’s interested in facing WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin. There’s a chance that Golovkin could fight the winner of the Cotto-Canelo fight in early 2016.

After that, Golovkin might opt to fight Ward if there’s not another unification fight out there for him against the likes of WBO champion Andy Lee. By that point, Golovkin could have three of the four 160llb titles in his possession and will be in good shape for a Ward fight if that’s what he’s interested in.

Ward is hanging around waiting to see if he can get the Golovkin fight rather than moving up to 175 to face IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev in a sure thing payday fight. Kovalev wants the Ward fight, and it would be an easy one for Roc Nation Sports to make once Ward stops waiting on Golovkin and just moves up in weight. Ward doesn’t want to move up to light heavyweight until he’s gotten the Golovkin fight.

The problem with that is it could take years for that fight to take place because Golovkin isn’t going to move up to super middleweight until he depletes all the possible fights at 160 for hi to take. Ward reportedly doesn’t want to fight Golovkin at a catch-weight of 164 because it’s too hard for him to get down in weight.

He’s barely making 168 as it is. The only way Golovkin vs. Ward takes place is if Golovkin goes all the way up to the full weight of 168 pounds for the super middleweight division.

The fight wouldn’t be a big money fight because Ward has barely been active in the last two years, and he’s not a huge star. The fight would likely bring in smaller PPV buys than Golovkin’s fight against David Lemieux. For that reason, it’s hardly worth it for Golovkin unless he didn’t mind messing his body up by moving up in weight to fight someone potentially 15-20 pounds heavier than him, and then having to drain back down to 160.

What Golovkin doesn’t need is to mess up his body the way Roy Jones Jr. messed his body up by going from light heavyweight to heavyweight, and then moving back down to light heavyweight.

Bryan Jennings turns down fight with Luis Ortiz on Golovkin vs. Lemieux card

Former heavyweight world title challenger Bryan Jennings has reportedly turned down a fight against Luis Ortiz on the undercard of the Gennady Golovkin vs. David Lemieux card on October 17th at Madison Square Garden in New York.

The money wasn’t good enough for Jennings to take the fight. It would have been a risky fight for Jennings to take because the 6’4” Ortiz is a big heavyweight with excellent punching power in both hands. Jennings has decent power, but nothing approaching the kind of power that Ortiz has going for him.

“Was told moments ago that Bryant Jennings & team turned down Luis Ortiz fight on GGG-Lemieux card. They say simply not enough $. :( #boxing,” Dan Rafael said on his Twitter.



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