Lem Satterfield of FanHouse reports that Showtime has notified promoters Gary Shaw and Dan Goossen that the fight between Andre Ward and Andre Dirrell must happen by early October, and preferably on the original September 25 date, or a lawsuit could come into play.
Ward and Dirrell, close friends outside of the ring, have not had their promoters settle a negotiation or a venue for their bout. There were rumors that Dirrell was considering not fighting Ward a while back, but he has denied that. Meanwhile, he recently said the fight was postponed, which his promoter Shaw said isn't the case, but Shaw also says that they don't have the fight done, and given that it's September 6 and the original date was September 25, it doesn't take a rocket surgeon to figure out that the fight happening on September 25 is, in the words of Gorilla Monsoon, highly...unlikely.
Ward (22-0, 13 KO) has emerged as one of the top up-and-coming stars in American boxing in the last year, dismantling Mikkel Kessler late in 2009 to kick off the Super Six World Boxing Classic, and dominating Allan Green in June. Dirrell (19-1, 13 KO) is considered by many to be the man in the Super Six who has the tools to defeat him, if anyone does. He rebounded from his first pro loss last year to Carl Froch with a win over Arthur Abraham in March.
Recently, Kessler dropped out of the Super Six with an eye injury, forcing Showtime to go into the tournament's semifinals. Froch and Abraham are set to meet on October 2 in Monaco in one semifinal, with Ward and Dirrell in the other bout. The winners will meet in the finals sometime in the first quarter of 2011, or at least that would be ideal.