CEITEDMOFO
Banned
Undefeated WBA super middleweight champion Andre Ward (28-0, 15 KOs) will be back before the end of the year, according to Roc Nation Sports COO David Itskowitch. He’s not sure which weight class the 31-year-old Ward will be fighting in, however.
Ward is still trying to decide whether to move up to 175 to fight the likes of Sergey Kovalev, or stay at 168 and continue to rule the division with an iron fist. There are negatives for Ward no matter which way he moves with his career.
Ward’s next fight can’t be scheduled until he makes up his mind which division he wants to fight in. If Ward stays at 168, he’ll likely have to be content with just defending his WBA title, because I just don’t see the top fighters in that weight class volunteering to fight him. In a perfect world, Ward could get anyone to fight him, but in reality, he’ll likely be avoided the plague by the top guys and he’ll have to be satisfied defending his WBA title against the obscure contenders.
“We’d like to see him back before the end of the year obviously and we’re starting to talk now between him and his team as to what direction he’d like to go next and what he wants in terms of weight,” Itskowitch said via Fightnews.com.
With Ward returning at the end of the year, he’s going to be looking to get the best possible opponent. I mean, he can’t fight another Paul Smith caliber opponent because it’s simply a waste of time. Ward showed in the Smith fight that he hasn’t lost a thing from his game after having been out of the ring for nearly two years.
It was a case of Ward being careful with his career and not wanting to take on someone too tough in his first fight back since 2013, but it was clearly not useful. When you’re at Ward’s level, a tune-up would be someone like George Groves, James DeGale or Callum Smith, rather than Paul Smith. You can’t call Paul Smith a tune-up because he was so badly overmatched. It was more of a case of an exhibition type workout than a tune-up.
As far Ward’s next fight, I’d like to see him fight one of the Dirrell brothers or Top Rank’s unbeaten contender/prospect Gilberto Ramirez. Unfortunately, I doubt that Bob Arum would ever allow Ramirez to fight Ward. I’m talking ever. Ramirez is likely going to be very carefully matched by Arum the way Arthur Abraham is matched by his promoters, so I don’t see Ward getting a shot at handing Ramirez his first loss.
Ward is probably going to have to be content with fighting someone along the lines of a Sakio Bika type opponent at best. I can’t see anyone else of not being willing to get inside the ring with a talent like Ward. Bika is fearless, and not about to say no to a fight against Ward. It’s not a great fight, but at least it’s one that can get made. Ward would obviously like to fight guys like Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., Groves, DeGale and Badou Jack, but I can’t see any of them saying yes to a fight against him. Ward is just too good right now.
Personally, I think Ward is making a mistake if he stays at 168. Those guys are not going to fight him, and he’s going to likely have problems finding suitable opposition to have his fights televised on HBO. It won’t be due to Ward and his promoters not trying to get the top guys to fight him at super middleweight. The problem will be that no one wants to face him. As such, every fight will be like a tune-up for Ward rather than a meaningful fight. That’s just the reality of it. When you’re as talented as Ward, no wants to fight you. No one likes goliath.
http://www.boxingnews24.com/2015/07/andre-ward-to-be-back-before-end-of-year-says-itskowitch/
at the nikka who thinks Paulie in 2015 is a good fighter worrying about someone's opp 
