By Ryan Burton
Oracle Arena, Oakland, Calif. - Former super middleweight champion Andre Ward (30-0) dominated Alexander Brand (25-1) over 12 rounds to set up a November 19th HBO pay-per-view showdown against Sergey Kovalev (30-0-1).
Ward, who has campaigned for most of his career as a super middleweight, fought for the second time as a full-fledged light heavyweight.
After the fight he said he felt comfortable in the higher weight class and ruled out a return to the 168 pound division, revealing that his body had outgrown the weight.
Ward has not made the super middleweight since the fall of 2013, when he won a twelve round decision over Edwin Rodriguez. There has been some talk of a potential fight with likes of WBC, WBA, IBF and IBO middleweight champion Gennady 'GGG' Golovkin, but that is certainly not going to happen in the near future.
While ruling out the possibility of having any future fights at 168, Ward admitted that it's not even easy for him to make the light heavyweight limit of 175-pounds.
"My body feels good. I don't think I can make 168 anymore. [1]75 isn't easy to make. I'm not doing anything crazy but it's not easy to make," said Ward.
The 2004 Olympic gold medalist also reiterated that he would like to take a fight in the heavyweight division before retiring.
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