Well, we know Andre Ward will not be fighting Gennady Golovkin anytime soon, but in the aftermath of all the hoopla going on with the Ward-Golovkin situation and regardless of which side you fall on in the debate of whether or not Golovkin is ducking Ward, we will still see both in action before the end of the year. However, only one fighter is set for action – Golovkin fights David Lemieux on HBO PPV October 17th.
Ward does not have anything on the schedule as of yet, although it seems like the plan is to have him on the November 21st HBO PPV card headlined by a middleweight showdown between WBC titlist Miguel Cotto and Saul Canelo Alvarez, which is being fought at a catch weight of 155lbs – one pound over the junior middleweight limit.
There has been a ton of speculation that Ward would end up on the card as the co-feature, but it seemed a little too good to be true, but if Roc Nations Sports – who will co-promote the card with Golden Boy Promotions – wants to make a real impact and take full advantage of the exposure the night is sure to get then it wouldn’t be a bad idea having Ward on the card.
Ward can certainly benefit from such a grand stage, and since he is still well within his right to stage a second tune-up fight since his 19 month layoff ended, which came in the form of a 9th round TKO win over Paul Smith back in June, he can fight a soft touch on the co-feature without much gripe from fans.
There is no official word as of yet, but Ward needs to be on the card in order to salvage the year.
I’m assuming almost any opponent will make do, and Ward will certainly add to the allure of the card as a whole. Ward needs to fight before the end of the year and it makes more sense for him to take advantage of all the eyes that will be on boxing the night of Cotto-Canelo.
Ward has stated that he would more than likely have a second tune-up fight. It is smart to continue to knock off the rust, although he looked good against Smith. That said, it would be a little disappointing to see him feature a card against a meaningless opponent at the end of the year.
