The Carl Froch-Andre Ward super-middleweight fight scheduled for Oct. 29 at Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall has been postponed because of an injury suffered by Ward on Thursday night.
"Bad News," Ward posted on his Twitter account. "I sustained a cut in sparring a few hours ago. ... flew to LA to see the Doc. I got 7 stitches. I will let you know the new date soon."
Froch-Ward, which is the final of Showtime's Super Six tournament, will be rescheduled for a later date at Boardwalk Hall, Caesars Entertainment consultant Ken Condon said Friday.
Ward (24-0, 13 KOs), the WBC super-middleweight champion, reportedly suffered the cut despite wearing protective headgear during his sparring session in his hometown of Oakland, Calif.
"It was the most freakish injury I've seen in 20-something years of being involved in this sport," Ward's promoter, Dan Goossen, said Friday in a phone interview from Los Angeles. "Not only was he wearing headgear, he had the full face guard that was covering his mouth.
"There were no elbows or head butts or anything like that. Andre didn't even know he had been hit. The sparring partner noticed the blood and when they took the head gear off, there was blood dropping from a cut above his right eye."
Ward immediately flew to Los Angeles to meet with Dr. Paul Wallace, a noted plastic surgeon who also serves as a ringside physician in California. Wallace administered the stitches.
Froch's handlers were both skeptical about the injury and angry that Ward chose to release the information via Twitter rather than calling them and Showtime first.
"None of it seems right," Eddie Hearn, managing director of Froch's promotional firm, Matchroom, told "Boxingscene.com. "He shouldn't have Tweeted it. It is very unprofessional of him to do this. He's left everyone in the lurch."
Tickets for the bout were selling at brisk pace, especially in England. Boardwalk Hall was being configured to seat 5,500, but there had been talk of expanding to accomodate more fans.
Refunds are available at the point of purchase, but Goossen is hoping the fans will simply choose to attend the bout once it is rescheduled. The new date will depend on Ward's recovery, Showtime's scheduled and Boardwalk Hall's availability.
"Believe me, all of us are disappointed," Goossen said. "We're just hoping that the fight will be one of those events where the demand makes it even bigger, like Mayweather-Pacquiao. People who wanted to see Andre and Froch will really want to see it now."
Froch-Ward was to be the second of two big fights scheduled for Boardwalk Hall's main arena in October. On Oct. 1, middleweight champion Sergio Martinez (47-2-2, 26 KOs) will take on England's Darren Barker (23-0, 14 KOs) in a 12-round bout that will be shown on HBO Championship Boxing.
