Boxing News 24/7Denzil Stone – Atlantic City
Oakland native Andre Ward, the champion of the WBA super middleweight title since 2009, has had seven stitches removed from the cut above his right eye that derailed the Super Six World Boxing Classic final with 168lbs rival Carl Froch initially intended for October 29. Ward is now eager to humble Froch for the negative spin he attached to the postponement. The unification bout is rearranged for December 17.
Ward with seven stitches. Credit: Fight Camp 360°/Showtime
Ward (24-0-0, 13ko) suffered the bloody cut during a routine sparring session in September. He consulted a plastic surgeon in Los Angeles where it was confirmed he would be unable to participate in a fight of the magnitude of the Super Six at the end of October as his training regime would have been inhibited.
The news did not go down well with Froch nor the Englishman’s promoter Eddie Hearn, of Matchroom Sports. Hearn brandished Ward as “unprofessional” while Froch (28-1-0, 20ko) labeled the cut as a “scratch” and stated that Ward has “lost the fight already” as he compared Ward’s cut to the laceration he suffered a week before he was due to fight Jean Pascal. Froch fought despite the cut, won a decision as well as his first WBC world title.
“The guy I’m fighting is doing a little bit too much talking,” Ward stated, as reported by the Associated Press today. “He’s a very arrogant guy and really needs to be humbled,” the undefeated American, a gold medal Olympian, added.
Reflecting on the cut, he commented: “Anytime that happens, it’s a disappointing thing.
“Once I realised the cut wasn’t career ending or career threatenin, and it was just something that kind of happened I was feeling a lot better, especially once I got a new date and a new time, everything settled down a little bit.”
The sutures have already been removed, Ward has returned to training and will begin heavy sparring before the month’s end.
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