knowing that Ward's talks&statements are unreliable and uncertain, i think Ward will stay and wait Bute vs Froch outcome and then he will make a choice. Ward knows that a fight against Bute will draw a lot and it will bring him a big purse of money . All he wants to do right now is to hype himself a little ! :yep
If he decides to fight Dawson he better make sure he wins and gets some hype, then a Bute matchup would be even bigger. If he loses the hypothetical Dawson matchup then that will take a lot of steam out of a possible SWM showdown. He might sit it out for the winner of the upcoming fight between Bute vs Froch, but he hasn't fought in a while right? He shouldn't wait too long to sign a fight contract.