By Allan Fox: In a recent article at Sports Illustrated, WBA/WBC super middleweight champion Andre Ward (25-0, 13 KO’s) ruled out fights with Anthony Dirrell and Bernard Hopkins. Ward said he had no interest in facing Dirrell, and that he didn’t think that the networks would be interested in that fight. Ward already opted not to fight IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute, because he felt that Bute still needed to prove himself by fighting someone good.

So with Ward basically saying no to three interesting fights, what can you say about that? If Ward is saying no to top fighters like Hopkins, Dirrell and Hopkins, does that suggest that Ward is ducking them? If not, then how do you explain Ward choosing to not face some of the best fighters in and around his weight class? If you take away those three fighters, there’s really not many good fighters left for Ward.

Mikkel Kessler moved up in weight to light heavyweight, and he probably has no real interest in fighting Ward again. Andre Dirrell is on a different tract right now looking to get some good fights under his belt before going after Bute or Robert Stieglitz. Edwin Rodriquez doesn’t have a fan base, so no one would care if Ward fought him or now. Ditto Adonis Stevenson.

Is Ward shooting himself in the foot by saying no to the best fights out there for him or does he have some master plan that he’s not showing? Saying no to Dirrell, Bute and Hopkins has taken off the shelf the top fighters for him. Ward may not realize this now because he’s probably still on the high from facing nothing but quality opponents for two years in the Super Six tournament. However, now that Ward is out of the Super Six tournament, he’s faced with fewer possibilities for interesting fights. To be sure, he can take on guys like Edwin Rodriguez, Adonis Stevenson and James DeGale, but those fights won’t mean a whole in the United States because they’re not well known fighters.

Ward is going to have to realize that he has to set aside his preferences and/or friendships in order to move ahead if he wants to become a big name in boxing. He has to go after guys like the Dirrell brothers, Hopkins and Bute because those are some of the bigger names at super middleweight. If he doesn’t fight them then who will he fight? I think we’ll see Ward settling for a lot less than them when he gets back in the ring in June.