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Ward v Pavlik shelved as surgery confirmed

Phil D. Jay 
WBN Editor
Picture by Stacey Verbeek
‘S.O.G’ to go under the knife
  
WBC and WBA super-middleweight champion Andre Ward is set to be out of boxing for the first part of 2013 after doctors confirmed that the American requires surgery of his niggling shoulder injury.

The 28 year-old Super-Six champion had been due to face former middleweight king Kelly Pavlik, originally in January of next year, but then pushed back a month and has now been scrapped altogether.

Oakland-based Ward had been struggling to find a credible opponent since his stoppage win over a weight-drained Chad Dawson earlier this year and after drafting in Pavlik, there had been some criticism of the choice.

It now seems unlikely that Pavlik will get the call again once Ward’s shoulder is fully healed and the winner of a potential May showdown between Mikkel Kessler and Carl Froch could now be targeted for later next year.

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