Why is Andre Ward vacating?

[winkveron]

The interview where Froch talks about prolonging fights, he also mentions that if the Bute fight(s) don't come off, he could fight for the vacant WBC belt. Any news on why Ward is potentially vacating???

[Adamj1987]

Maybe to move up or to not have the terrible mandatories

[desperados]

im pretty sure Ward boxed at LH in the olympics, so it could be he's moving up.

Some good fights for him at LH. I'd imagine hed stay away from Dawson, but i cant imagine Hopkins or Pascal giving him much trouble. Maybe down the road we might get to see Nathan v Ward.

[Old bones Ian]

WBC have Dirrell at No1 and Froch at No2, not great for Ward to be going over old ground. I'm guessing he will have a look round for a while, as he's getting over a hand injury at mo.

WBC also have Groves and DeGale in their top 10, so could get an all British world title fight

[deadpan]

Froch v Degale would be hilarious.

[iamasadlittleboy]

A case of Ward not wanting another difficult fight (Bute or Dirrell) next?

[whiskey]

im pretty sure Ward boxed at LH in the olympics, so it could be he's moving up.

Some good fights for him at LH. I'd imagine hed stay away from Dawson, but i cant imagine Hopkins or Pascal giving him much trouble. Maybe down the road we might get to see Nathan v Ward.

Amateur light heavy starts at 75kg and professional super middle is 76.2 kg

The reality is he could move down more than up. He fought at 75kg to allow his best boxing buddy Dirrel take the 69-75kg middleweight slot.

He even turned pro at middleweight.

[scottyp]

should Froch be given the chance to fight for another world title? personally hope he doesn't now after recent news, he has lost my respect. Would rather see Degale or groves fighting for the title then Froch.

[desperados]

im pretty sure Ward boxed at LH in the olympics, so it could be he's moving up.

Some good fights for him at LH. I'd imagine hed stay away from Dawson, but i cant imagine Hopkins or Pascal giving him much trouble. Maybe down the road we might get to see Nathan v Ward.

Amateur light heavy starts at 75kg and professional super middle is 76.2 kg

The reality is he could move down more than up. He fought at 75kg to allow his best boxing buddy Dirrel take the 69-75kg middleweight slot.

He even turned pro at middleweight.

The LHW limit however in the ams is 178lb. In the pro game however the LHW limit is 175 lb. So effecitvly, LHW amateurs could be weighing in at cruiserweight then rehydrating to a good few lb over 180.

I had a quick look to see what sort weight Ward was weighing in at in his amateur days but couldnt find anything, but you would have to assume he was at the very least the lower limit of 166lb (2lb short of the SMW limit). But i think its fair to assume to be comfortable in the wieght category, and not to give too much weight away to his opponents, he'd probably be weighing in at over 170lb, making him a genuine LHW.

I don't agree he should or could be fighting at middle. His pro career started off at 165 which is a natural SMW, but then dropped to 160ish for a couple of fights. He failed to make the weight by 3lb in 2007 according to boxrec coming in at 171 making him LHW, and been consistantly on the limit of 168 from then on, with him failing to make 168 on another occassion, also coming in at 170+.

I think its fair to say he belongs more in the LHW division than Middle. If the fights aren't there for him at SMW (and barring a fight with Bute it ain't lookin like theres anyone worth fighting, perhaps the winner of Kessler/Steigletz could be good) then im pretty sure the fans woudl be mega dissapointed if he chose to cut down over a stone to box at 160 lb against smaller guys like Sturm or Martinez. He could easily match someone like BHop or Cleverly like i mentioned for size and would most definatly enter those fights as a heavy favourite imo.

I'd find it very strange if Ward vacated because theres no good fights for him at SMW, and he was looking at MW rather than LHW.

Even if he was looking at MW, surely the main reason would be to fight in a big money spinner vs Martinez, but draining down to 160 lb and fighting a guy like Martinez could be dangerous territory, and even if he wins it would just look liek a bigger guy draining down to batter a smaller man.

[Adamj1987]

Ward vs dawson maybe?

[NazNaci1]

The last thing I would accuse Ward of is running scared. So it might be because of his mandatory and the fact he might be chasing the bigger purses. That seems more feasible. Not sure if his friendship with the Dirrell's plays any part, then again, he was willing and prepared to fight Andre in S6.