Anthony Joshua is in the process of finalising his return to the ring, and now his promoter Eddie Hearn has discussed the idea of that being against former two-weight world champion Andre Ward.
Joshua last fought in September 2024 when he made a disastrous attempt to dethrone Daniel Dubois, the then-IBF champion. After being put down early, he was then put down again, even harder, and was unable to beat the 10 count in the fifth round.
Dubois has since been beaten by now two-time undisputed champion Oleksandr Usyk, while Joshua has been out recovering from an elbow injury.
Jake Paul is the current frontrunner to face the Brit next, though many feel it would be unsafe to fight the smaller, less experienced American.
Ward threw his hat into the ring earlier this week with a shock statement saying he would prepare to make a comeback after eight years away from the sport to face ‘AJ.’
“Most days, I don’t miss it. I’m very content doing what I’m doing in life right now. Who would I fight? That’s the problem. It’s a lot of names out there but it’s not a lot of names that make sense.
“There’s one name that I brought up before that when you say that name I can see myself fighting him. Present day. Today. If the business was right and everything was right on that front, me and Anthony Joshua.
“That’s a fight that I would take at Wembley Stadium. It’s a dangerous fight for my legacy, it’s a dangerous fight across the board. But that’s a fight that would get me in the gym and get me in the mindset that I need to be in to go to war. It’s Anthony Joshua. I know he’s getting ready to fight Jake Paul, I ain’t talking about that. I’m talking about a real fight.”
However, speaking to The Stomping Ground, Hearn admitted that he ‘can’t see’ a fight with Ward materialising.
“[Andre Ward’s attorney] Josh Dubin called me the other day and was like ‘Dre wants the fight, I’m like, who? What do you mean? I think Andre Ward called out Jake Paul a couple of years ago as well so. It’s great that everyone is still calling ‘AJ” out. But I can’t see that being a fight, no.”
This was a contest that was mooted some years ago, after Ward had moved up to light heavyweight and twice beat Sergey Kovalev, once by points in November 2016 on points, then again in June 2017 by stoppage.
As a former high school wrestling champion and boxer with great defence skills and slick offence, it was believed he might stand a chance in the banner division but now eight years retired and at 41 years old, that moment seems to have passed.
