Ward's title defense postponed

Andre Ward's sixth title fight has been postponed because the Super middleweight champion hurt his right shoulder in a sparring session last week.

Ward, 28. had been scheduled to fight Jan. 26 against former middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik on HBO's "World Championship Boxing."

"He felt a little tweak when he threw a punch and stopped immediately," Ward's promoter, Dan Goossen, told ESPN.com. "He didn't really think it was that damaging at first but he certainly felt pain. He went to the doctor and followed up with an MRI (on Friday). It disclosed no tears, no rotator cuff injury, nothing of devastating proportions, but there was a lot of swelling and inflammation, so the key to healing is not using the arm for a few weeks."

Goossen told ESPN that he hoped to keep the fight at the Galen Center, on the USC campus, and said a target date for the rescheduled fight is Feb. 23.