Former WBO European light-heavyweight champ Steven Ward steps up to cruiserweight
Steven Ward will make his long-awaited move into the cruiserweight division when he takes on dangerous opponent Jone Volau on the #GoldenContract undercard later this month.
Ward (12-1, 4 KOs) faces former heavyweight contender Volau (5-5, 2 KOs) on September 30, as part of the huge event that will be broadcast live in the UK on Sky Sports in association with Matchroom Boxing, and live in the US on ESPN+ in association with Top Rank.
The Fiji-born 'Brown Bomber' has Ko'd two of his victims and won half of his 10 contests. 37-years-old, he resides in Gateshead and was last in action in May 2019 on an MTK Global show against 2010 Commonwealth Games gold medalist Simon Vallily, who stopped him in the dying seconds of the first round with a right to the head.
Volau won five of his first six fights but hasn't won any of his last four outings. He too makes his cruiserweight debut having had all his fights at heavyweight, weighing in as heavy as 241lbs on two occasions. In his last fight, he tipped the scales at 221lbs, the lowest of his career.
He should represent a good test for Ward in his step up a division whilst not offering much of a threat at the same time.
'The Quiet Man' Ward was a quarter-finalist of the Golden Contract light-heavyweight tournament but was stopped by Latvian Ricards Bolotniks (16-5-1, 7KOs) in the first round of their scheduled 10-round contest. Ward was down three times before the fight was called off at 2:21. The uncharacteristic performance, Ward blamed on 'boiling down' to make the 175lbs weight limit. He admitted afterwards that was tough making weight, which has prompted the belated move up.
MTK Global Promoter Lee Eaton said: "We're delighted to add these two fantastic fights to the Golden Contract undercard. Steven Ward has been working hard over the past year ahead of his move to cruiserweight, and he has a very tough test ahead of him against Jone Volau.
"Volau has campaigned at heavyweight throughout his career, so he will be extremely motivated with this fight just slightly above the cruiserweight limit, so it's a dangerous challenge for Ward."
Elsewhere on the card, amateur star Ben Fail will make his highly-anticipated professional debut, as he goes up against former Southern Area middleweight title challenger Robbie Chapman (6-4).
Chapman recently starred on an action-packed #MTKFightNight last month when he took on Fearghus Quinn, and will now turn his attention to Fail.
"It's great to have Ben Fail making his highly-anticipated professional debut too. He takes on former Southern Area title challenger Robbie Chapman, who we recently saw giving his all on an MTK Fight Night event, so it's a big statement of intent from Ben to have this as his debut fight."
The huge #GoldenContract event on September 30 features the super-lightweight and featherweight finals, with Ohara Davies taking on Tyrone McKenna, while Ryan Walsh goes up against Jazza Dickens.
The light-heavyweight semi-final between Liam Conroy and Serge Michel will also take place, while the other semi-final involving Hosea Burton and Ricards Bolotniks in Latvia will take place three days earlier on September 26.
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