Andre Ward (27-0, 14 KOs) feels there’s no need in him moving up to the light heavyweight division to get big fights in that weight class. Ward, 30, feels that there’s no need in him moving up to the 175 pound division until he physically grows into that division.
Right now, Ward still sees him as a super middleweight despite the fact there are questions whether he’ll be able to make the weight given his long year and a half layoff from the ring.
Ward signed with Roc Nations Sports last Friday after breaking free from his previous promoter Goosen Promotions, who Ward had been in litigation with for the last year.
Ward is hoping that with Roc Nations, he’ll be able to get a new start and get the fights that he’s been longing for. Unfortunately for Ward, he hasn’t had a big fight since 2011 when he beat Carl Froch in the Super Six tournament, and it’s not looking like he’s going to be able to get any similar fights anytime soon if he decides to stay at 168.
“I understand people talking about me going up, but I’ve defended my belts and I’m going to continue to defend my belts,” Ward said via Thaboxingvoice.com.
Ward has only one title at this time and that’s his WBA title, which he hasn’t defended since November 2013.
“I’m a super middleweight and the reality is there are a lot of super middleweights out there…I’m starting to get offended that my name isn’t brought up,” Ward said.
It seems like it’s only now starting to sink in with Ward that he’s being ducked by the top super middleweights in the division. The fact that he’s slow to respond to this doesn’t bode well for his future. If he’s going to stubbornly persist in sticking it out at super middleweight and continue to be ignored by the top guys, he’s going to waste a lot of time. He’d be far better off moving up to the light heavyweight division, if only temporary, to look for fights against guys like Sergey Kovalev, Adonis Stevenson and Jean Pascal. If any of those fights are available to Ward, he’d be better off taking one of them rather than wasting his career fighting obscure fighters at 168.