By Scott Gilfoid: WBA/WBC super middleweight champion Andre Ward (26-0, 14 KO’s) turns a young 29-years-old today. Ward is still rehabbing his injured shoulder that he recently had operated on. Ward should be back in the ring by the summer. Unfortunately, Ward doesn’t have much in the way of competition to fight.
It’s looking like he’s going to be forced to fight Sakio Bika again, a fighter that Ward beat three years ago by a lopsided 12 round unanimous decision. Bika recently beat Nikola Sjekloca by a 12 round unanimous decision in a WBC 168 title eliminator bout on February 16th of this month. Bika isn’t the opponent that Ward wants to face.
He’s interested in battling IBF super middleweight champion Carl Froch and WBA champion Mikkel Kessler, but he’s not going to be able to fight both of them in 2013, and I’d be surprised if he faces either this year.
Those guys both got whipped badly by Ward in the Super Six tournament and neither has been eager to get back in there to mix it up with him after what happened to them last time.
Ward could end up facing James DeGale in late 2013 or early 2014. DeGale sees himself as capable of doing the job against Ward, but pretty much no one else does. I think it would be a good fight if they can stage it in the UK where it might draw a crowd, but other than that it’s a sick mismatch like Ward vs. Kessler or Froch.
I actually think DeGale would stand a little better chance against Ward than those guys because DeGale is better at moving around the ring, and he wouldn’t let Ward tee off on him the way that Kessler and Froch would.
Ward defeated Chad Dawson in his last fight by a 10th round TKO last September in a fight that was totally one-sided with Ward knocking Dawson down three times in the fight. Ward was then looking to fight former WBC/WBO middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik, but that fight was derailed permanently with Ward’s shoulder injury. Pavlik has since announced his retirement.
Ward is currently ranked #2 in the Ring Magazine pound for pound rankings right behind #1 Floyd Mayweather Jr. Ward fancies his chances of becoming the #1 pound-for-pound fighter in the near future.
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