The RING strips Andre Ward of his SMW Title

[Loque-san]

Nothing disgraceful about it considering The Ring explained why they had to strip him. Ward remains the best super middleweight in the world, with or without that belt, but he needs to get back in the ring.

[Shapopojoe]

Good call...I like the guy but you gotta be active to keep a belt, period...fight a schlub if needed and then make a stink about it in he post interview...market bigger fights, out the pressure on..stop being nice...

[BOXEO _]

It was long overdue.

[doninlouisiana]

It's not been entirely his fault that he's been out. I don't see why he should be punished for it.

The fact that people are revelling in this and want one of the best fighters in the world to retire is quite a sad indictment on some of the so called fans on here.

Want him to retire? I want to see him active and fighting 3-4 times per year like Golovkin does. He would get relevant again in a hurry if he would get busy.

[Mr. Miyagi]

Not really news. Who cares. Not even a real belt, and he could win it back by fighting a top fighter.

[Pigeons]

The RING had already lost any semblance of credibility when they altered their championship policy. This is just the nail in the coffin.

The Transnational Boxing Rankings Board (TBRB) is much better than the RING as they only crown lineal champions when #1 fights #2 or if the champion is defeated in the ring. Plus, they don't strip lineal champions because of injuries or promotional disputes. Andre Ward remains the Lineal, TBRB, and WBA SMW champion.

http://www.tbrb.org/all-rankings/#168

[Dr Rumack]

It needed to happen. Can't still be calling someone the champ when they've been that inactive.

Ward is still probably the best SMW in the world, but he has to go prove it again.

[bojangles1987]

He hasn't fought and has no fight scheduled. No problem with this.

[junior gong]

He's not fighting so its more than fair. Cant see a problem here, when and if he fights again, he can work his way to getting it back.

[artfuL_]

Ward has been dropped from the Pound-for-Pound rankings. Undefeated WBA middleweight titleholder Gennady Golovkin, who is rated No. 1 at 160 pounds, will enter at No. 10.

One for the anti-GGG crew