Andre Ward vs Chad Dawson: September 8 Date Being Negotiated

CSN Bay Area's Ryan Maquinana reports that promoters for super middleweight champion Andre Ward and light heavyweight champion Chad Dawson are discussing a September 8 fight date, with Atlantic City and Los Angeles possible hosts for the bout.

Dawson (31-1, 17 KO) won the light heavyweight title from Bernard Hopkins on April 28 in Atlantic City, and called out Ward (25-0, 13 KO) after the fight. Ward was also featured on the Mayweather vs Cotto pay-per-view last Saturday, adding some guest commentary for the Canelo Alvarez vs Shane Mosley fight.

It is not known whether the fight would be on HBO, where Dawson has been competing, or Showtime, the network where Ward has made his bones, but there's been a lot of chatter about Ward making the jump, and Showtime has rather abruptly started to pull out of the super middleweight division under new boss Stephen Espinoza, who is paying far more attention to featuring American fighters and, it must be said, Al Haymon clients.

HBO is very interested in the fight, according to ESPN.com, so best guess right now is that HBO will land the fight if it happens.

About a week ago, Dawson even said he'd be willing to go down to 168 pounds to make the fight with Ward happen, and Ward has expressed his own interest in the bout. The 28-year-old Oakland native hasn't fought since his December win over Carl Froch, and has taken time off to let his injured hand heal.

The fight likely doesn't excite those who look for action in their fights, as both Ward and Dawson could be described as cerebral tacticians who don't bring the blood and guts. But it's a fight between in-prime top fighters, too, and for many, that's more than good enough.

We'll have more when more becomes known, but it looks like this fight is going to happen.