By Rick Reeno

WBA super middleweight champion Andre Ward (27-0, 14KOs) is less than week away from his scheduled return. Ward, who's been out of the ring since November 2013, is back in the ring on June 20th against Paul Smith at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California. The fight will headline Roc Nation Sports' first televised event on BET.

Ward is returning on a new network, with a new promoter, and a rugged opponent. But, most fans are more fixated on Ward's return weight. The fight with Smith is taking place at a catch-weight of 172-pounds.

For the last few years, Ward has pretty much cleaned out the super middleweight division with victories over a who's who in recognizable names. There are a few lucrative opportunities in the light heavyweight division, with champions Sergey Kovalev and Adonis Stevenson at the top of list - and a loaded supporting staff with fighters like Jean Pascal, Artur Beterbiev, Andrzej Fonfara, Eleider Alvarez, Juergen Braehmer, Lucian Bute, Erik Skoglund, Sullivan Barrera, Nathan Cleverly, Sean Monaghan - in other words the division is currently loaded.

Ward admits that a move to 175 is a very realistic possibility. Ultimately, his performance on Saturday night will play a role in his overall decision regarding his future weight division.

But it won't be a decision that he makes overnight. Ward wants to move up the right way, by physically building himself into a true light heavyweight.  

"Fighting at 172 is just to see how my body feels. Where is the safest place for me to be, is it 168...can I go up to 175? I know its a piece that some may not care about, but it's a piece that I have to look at from my standpoint, because once I go up to 175 I'm not going to be a super middleweight fighting at 175. I'm going to be a full-fledged light heavyweight and there is no coming down," Ward told BoxingScene.com.

"So I just have to make sure that it's the healthy thing for my body to do, it's the right thing to do, it's the right time. But I'll get a good inclination at 172 on how I feel and how I look.  

And if he decides to move up to 175, the obvious fight that HBO would love to make is a fight with Kovalev (27-0-1, 24KOs), who currently holds the IBF/WBA/WBO world titles. Kovalev has a mandatory defense scheduled for July 25th with heavy underdog Nadjib Mohammedi.

If Ward decides to go up to 175, he says a fight with Kovalev is an obvious scenario.

"It's possible. When I eventually get to 175 and I'm a full-fledged light heavyweight...of course at the right time that's the fight that I want. You can't come to a guy's weight class and at some point in time not want to fight the best in that division, that goes without saying," Ward said.