(Photo credit: Tom Hogan – Hoganphotos/Roc Nation Sports) By Jim Dower: It’s now official. WBA super middleweight champion Andre Ward (28-0, 15 KOs) will be facing #5 WBC Alexander Brandon (24-1, 19 KOs) on November 21st, according to Dan Rafael of ESPN.
The Ward-Brand right will be the co-feature bout on the Miguel Cotto vs. Saul “Canelo” Alvarez fight card on HBO pay-per-view from the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The announcement for the Ward vs. Brand fight is expected to take place on Wednesday.
The Nevada State Athletic Commission initially rejected the 38-year-old Brand as Ward’s opponent, but they then changed their minds and gave the fight a green light.
They previously approved Cedric Andrew, a fighter that Sergey Kovalev destroyed last year in 7 rounds. However, Ward reportedly didn’t want him as an opponent because he wanted a fighter that fights out of the orthodox stance that could help him get ready for his eventual title shot against Kovalev at light heavyweight.
“I’m told Andre Ward will face Alexander Brand (24-1, 19 KOs), who lost to Badou Jack by split, on Cotto-Canelo card. Wed announcement likely,” Rafael said on his Twitter. “Nevada commission initially declined to approve Brand as opponent for Ward, had rightful change of heart. #boxing.”
Brand, who comes from Colombia, has a seven fight winning streak dating back to July 2012. Brand was beaten by Badou Jack by an eight round split decision in May 2012. Since that loss, Brand has been carefully matched and not gotten close to fighting anyone good enough to give him any real problems. His last four wins have come against little known fighters Bernard Dontack, Rey Recio, Wilmer Mejia, and Jorge Rodriguez Olivera.
You can understand why the Nevada State Athletic Commission was cool to the idea of having Ward face Brand, but given that this is a tune-up fight for Ward, it’s hard to fault him for facing Brand. The guy is ranked in the top 5 by the World Boxing Council, and that’s a respectable ranking.
Brand doesn’t have the kind of talent that you would expect from a fighter ranked No.5 by the WBC, but they have their reasons for seeing him as their No.5 contender. The WBC has some arguably better fighters ranked below Brand like Rocky Fielding, Sakio Bika, Patrick Nielsen and Christopher Rebrasse.
#7 WBC Schiller Hyppolite was reportedly another name that was rejected by the Nevada Commission as a potential opponent for Ward.
The Brand fight will be Ward’s first match in his new three-fight contract with HBO Boxing. They’re allowing Ward to use up his first fight of his contract with them, but it’s likely that HBO will expect Ward’s next opponent to be someone good. The third fight is supposed to be against Kovalev. Alexander Brand is expected to fight Ward at either 175 or at a catch-weight above 168.
It is unknown why Ward didn’t choose a light heavyweight to fight to get him acclimated to the 175lb division instead of a super middleweight. Ward would be better off facing someone who will be able to get him ready for the kind of power punches and the size that he’ll be dealing with when he starts fighting the bigger fighters at 175.
Ward defeated Paul Smith in his last fight in June in a catch-weight at 172. Ward won the fight by a 9th round knockout.
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