By Boxing Muse – @BoxingMuse – Pound 4 pound number 2 Andre Ward who has not boxed since his impressive TKO of Chad Dawson on September 8, 2012 stands alone as the best boxer in the 168lb division, which is proving to temporarily halt the progression of his career.
It is accurate to say Andre Ward is the best super-middle weight but it also fair to say he is not the most entertaining fighter. The battle for the best super-middleweight behind Ward took place on May 25th; Froch v Kessler 2 was a thrilling fight involving two warriors going to war and Froch prevailed as the second best super-middle weight in boxing.
As Ward has previously beaten Kessler and Froch in a satisfactory but monotonous manner there is no major public demand for a rematch with either man. So unfortunately there leaves little evenly matched and live opposition for Ward. England’s young guns Groves and DeGale are gaining momentum and are now highly ranked in the main governing bodies but are probably too inexperienced to deserve a bout with Ward and if Lucian Bute could rack up several victories to see him back as real threat then that gives Ward several options but not until the future.
As options at 168lbs are lacking, Ward may look to the middle-weight division to find a challenge. The 160lbs division is full of talented fighters, popular names and tough pugilists. The main danger man at middleweight is ‘Kazakh KO King ‘ Gennadiy Golovkin who has to defeat Matthew Macklin June 29th. British-Irishman Macklin is a talented fighter but experts are rightly tipping Golovkin to be victorious. Given Golovkin comes through Macklin looking impressive could see a bout being made which the boxing fraternity would consider a dream fight; Ward-Golovkin
This is truly a 50-50 fight. Ward a supremely skilled boxer-puncher and student of the sweet science who is technically minded versus Golovkin, a thunderous and devastating power puncher possessing excellent boxing craft who has never met the canvas in over 375 amateur and professional fights.
Both Ward and Golovkin have expressed interest in fighting one another so hopefully the mach-up shouldn’t be difficult to make. Die hard boxing fans will be ecstatic if this fight is made although it is a shame that boxing is not a mainstream sport because even casual sport fans could benefit from seeing such a great match-up of two undefeated fighters.
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