By Eric Thomas: Undefeated World Boxing Association (WBA) super middleweight champion Andre Ward (22-0, 13 KO’s) weighed in at 168 pounds at today’s weight for his bout on Saturday night against veteran Sakio Bika (28-4-2, 19 KO’s) at the Oracle Arena, in Oakland, California. Bika, 31, weighed in right on the super middleweight limit at 168 as well. The fight will be aired on Showtime and will be part of a split site doubleheader with Carl Froch vs. Arthur Abraham being the other fight that will be shown.

This will be a non-Super Six tournament fight. Ward’s previously scheduled tournament opponent Andre Dirrell dropped out of the Super Six tournament due to neurological problems from an injury he sustained in his last fight in the tourney. Ward was then allowed to fight an opponent outside of the tournament and still have the fight shown by Showtime on the same night as the Froch-Abraham fight. This gives Ward the benefit of not missing a fight, and at the same time it allowed Ward to be seen by boxing fans who are tuning in to watch the Abraham vs. Froch Super Six bout.

Ward, 26, has the youth advantage over the 31-year-old Bika in this fight, and Ward also has the speed and skill advantage as well. However, Bika has more experience, having fought guys like Joe Calzaghe, Lucian Bute, Jean Paul Mendy, Sam Soliman, and Markus Beyer in the past. Unfortunately, Bika was beaten by three of those fighters and he’s facing someone in Ward who would have an excellent chance of beating all of those guys. Ward may be the best fighter in the super middleweight division at this time. Bika should be a good test to show whether Ward has the ability to dominate a fighter that guys like Bute and Calzaghe struggled against.