Andre Ward returns after layoff

Andre Ward returns after layoff
Mark E. Ortega
Martinez News-Gazette
November 14, 2013


It’ll have been 14 months since Oakland’s Andre Ward (26-0, 14 knockouts) looked across the ring at an opponent looking to dethrone him from his position as the king of the super middleweight division when he meets Edwin Rodriguez (24-0, 16 KOs) on Saturday night in an HBO televised affair.

Oakland’s Ward, who also boasts being the last American boxer to win Olympic gold back in the 2004 Games, will meet a younger opponent for the first time in six years.

Rodriguez, a Dominican who hails from Worcester, Mass., is just a year younger than Ward but enters this weekend’s contest with less wear and tear than the favorite. Ward has faced the division’s top guys since first winning a 168-pound title four years ago, almost to the day. With that, Ward has accrued a number of injuries, including a recent shoulder injury that kept him sidelined all of 2013

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Ward-Rodriguez bout set

Ward-Rodriguez bout set
Mark E. Ortega
Martinez News-Gazette
October 6, 2013


It will have been fourteen months when undefeated super middleweight champion and Bay Area native Andre Ward steps into the ring again, but a date and opponent have finally been set.

Ward will meet unbeaten rising contender Edwin Rodriguez at the Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario, Calif., as part of an HBO telecast. Ward appeared in the squared circle last September when he stopped reigning light heavyweight champion Chad Dawson in Oakland at the Oracle Arena.

Ward is returning from a right shoulder injury that he had surgery on in the early part of the year. Initially, he was slated to face former middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik, but multiple delays lead to the eventual cancellation of the fight and a search for a new opponent.

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