Andre Ward?s move to light heavyweight is official after it was announced Thursday that the 2004 Olympic gold medalist has vacated his WBA super middleweight title as he pursues a showdown with WBO, IBF and WBA light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev.
?I won the WBA belt for my first world title in 2009 and have defended it six times and it?s been a wonderful ride with the WBA,? Ward said about the world title he won by beating Mikkel Kessler in the opening fight of the Super Six tournament. It was a tournament he impressively rolled through, and as a result of his dominating performances, he ascended up the mythical pound-for-pound rankings. ?[WBA vice president] Gilberto Mendoza and his team have shown me nothing but respect, and I?m looking forward to moving up and hopefully winning the WBA light heavyweight belt.?
Ward successfully defended his title against Allan Green, Sakio Bika, Arthur Abraham, Carl Froch, Chad Dawson and Edwin Rodriguez from 2009-13. Although Ward?s campaign as WBA champion was a successful run, it was also mired by contract controversy and injuries that have kept Ward relatively inactive with only three fights in the last three years. With Jay Z?s Roc Nation Sports as his new promoter, Ward hopes to land a fight with Kovalev by 2016.
He was supposed to debut as a light heavyweight in the co-featured bout on the Miguel Cotto vs. Saul ?Canelo? Alvarez pay-per-view card Nov. 21, but an injury has postponed the start of his career at 175 pounds.
