By Sean McDaniel: Arthur Abraham’s promoter says that next months’ Super Six semifinals bout between their fighter and WBA super middleweight champion Andre Ward is off unless neutral officials can be found for bout. The fight is supposed to take place at the Home Deport Center in Carson, California. Abraham’s promoter, Sauerland, aren’t agreeable to the referee and one of the judges coming from California.

They’re okay with one of the judges coming from California with another coming from Europe and the final from a neutral country. But what they don’t want is the referee also coming from California, as Ward was born and raised and still lives in Oakland, California. Sauerland says there was a previous agreement that the referee wasn’t supposed to be from Europe or American. Dan Goosen, the promoter for Ward, reportedly says there wasn’t an agreement to this but it still open to getting neutral officials for the fight. However, Goosen is fine with at least one of the officials coming from California and the rest from outside of California.

Abraham comes into this fight having lost two out of his last three fights with his two losses coming in the Super Six tournament against Andre Dirrell and Carl Froch. Abraham can’t afford to lose yet again, because this would hurt Abraham not only for the tournament but beyond the tourney because any fighter that loses that many fights in a short period of time is going to be seen differently by boxing fans. Ward, for his part, has breezed through the Super Six tourney beating Mikkel Kessler and Allan Green.