Super middleweight king Andre Ward returned to the Comcast SportsNet Bay Area studios Thursday afternoon to touch on a variety of subjects, the first being the location of his upcoming Sept. 8 fight with light heavyweight champ Chad Dawson.
Lucian Bute still wants to fight Andre Ward to try to prove he is the best super middleweight in boxing. The undefeated southpaw won’t worry, however, about out-doing Ward when he encounters Carl Froch on Saturday night in Nottingham, England, Froch’s hometown. The Romanian-born Bute knows, of course, that outside observers will promptly compare how he fares against Froch to Ward’s win over the former WBC 168-pound champion (EPIX; 6 p.m. EDT; 3 p.m. PDT).
Promoter Dan Goossen has advised BoxingScene.com that WBC super middleweight Andre Ward (25-0, 13KOs), and WBC light heavyweight king Chad Dawson (31-1, 17KOs), have agreed to terms for a fight on September 8th. Dawson would come down 168 to meet Ward for the WBC title.
IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute appeared on the latest edition of The Boxing Lab, BoxingScene.com's official audio show. The Montreal, Quebec based fighter faces Super Six tournament runner-up Carl Froch on May 26th in his hometown of Nottingham, UK. Showtime signed Bute to a 3 fight contract in hopes of matching him with the eventual tournament winner that ended up being Andre Ward. Prior to winning the Super Six trophy, Ward appeared on board with the plan but changed his mind shortly after his tournament clinching win over Froch. When I asked Bute for his opinion on Ward's change of heart he said that he had no idea why Ward declined the fight.
The looming super middleweight fight between Chad Dawson (31-1, 17 KOs) and Andre Ward (25-0, 13 KOs) has momentarily derailed the incoming stampede for the WBC title. Following his unanimous decision win over Carl Froch in December, Ward was nursing a hand injury. Because of the injury, the WBC removed the championship from Ward and made him the "champion in recess." At the same time, they ordered a fight between Anthony Dirrell (24-0, 21KOs) and Nikola Sjekloca (24-0, 7KOs) for the "vacant WBC title."
Days after Chad Dawson recaptured the light heavyweight championship with a rematch victory over Bernard Hopkins, Dawson’s trainer, John Scully, spoke with BoxingScene.com in early May about the win, and also about what’s next, including whether he’d prefer a bout against super middleweight champion Andre Ward or a fight with the winner of the upcoming light heavyweight bout between Jean Pascal and Tavoris Cloud.