Andre Ward has had several nagging injuries throughout his career with his shoulder and hand, so this isn’t surprising. After winning the Super Six Super Middleweight Tournament and destroying Chad Dawson earlier this year, Ward is prime to be the successor to Floyd Mayweather as the best pound for pound fighter in the world.
He needs to keep winning against high profile opponents. His boxing skills are elite, but his name recognition and ability to put people in the seats are not. Hate it or love it that is a big part of boxing.
While Kelly Pavlik hasn’t done anything to deserve a shot at Ward, he is still a big name and a convincing win would help Ward become more of a household name.
The fight was scheduled for January 26th in LA, but according to Ward’s promoter Dan Goosen it will have to be postponed for at least a month because of a shoulder injury Ward sustained in training.
“He felt a little tweak when he threw a punch and stopped immediately,” Ward’s promoter, Dan Goossen, told ESPN.com on Thursday. “He didn’t really think it was that damaging at first but he certainly felt pain. He went to the doctor and followed up with an MRI (on Friday). It disclosed no tears, no rotator cuff injury, nothing of devastating proportions, but there was a lot of swelling and inflammation, so the key to healing is not using the arm for a few weeks.”