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Super middleweight champ Andre Ward to face Kelly Pavlick

Injuries have slowed Ward down in 2012, but he has a fight set up for January.

Ezra Shaw

Super middleweight champion Andrew Ward has set up a fight with former middleweight champion Kelly Pavlick, according to a report from ESPN.

The two champs are set to square off at the Galen Center in Los Angeles on Jan. 26. The fight will be featured on HBO's "World Championship Boxing," and will be the main event of a doubleheader. The Galen Center currently houses USC Trojans basketball and volleyball events, and opened back in 2006.

On Tuesday, Dan Goossen, Ward's promoter, discussed setting up the fight with Bob Arum, who is Pavlik's promoter. According to Goossen, it took more than a month to finalize all of the details:

"It's never easy making fights like this. But the key thing here was everyone involved wanted to get it made. There was never a point where we doubted it would get finalized. I believed we had a deal in October, but we just had to get the particulars together."

Ward will enter the fight as a pretty heavy favorite over Pavlick, although he knows he cannot take the bout lightly. Pavlick has battled issues outside of the ring over the past few years, but he has come back strong and is looking to make himself relevant in the boxing world once again.

"Pavlik is a big name, but he is also a formidable former world champion whose only losses have been to Bernard Hopkins and Sergio Martinez in 12-round decisions," said Goossen. "It's the Pavliks of the world who have been to the top and want to get back there who are dangerous. You don't take anything for granted, and I know Andre isn't. He doesn't underestimate the challenge from Pavlik."