A legendary former world champion remains interested in a future showdown with two-time unified heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua.
‘AJ’ is gearing up to make his highly anticipated return to action within the next couple of months, with reports suggesting that the 36-year-old from Watford could actually make a comeback before the end of the year.
Joshua’s last ring appearance came in September of 2024 when he was stopped in the 5th round of his clash with former IBF world heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois at Wembley Stadium.
The two-time unified heavyweight champion has been recovering from an injury to his elbow for the majority of this year but it appears that he is now ready to make a return to the sport and push towards yet another world title shot.
Whilst Joshua is expected to face a highly-ranked heavyweight upon his return to boxing, it had been speculated earlier this year that the 36-year-old was in talks to face former unified super-middleweight and light-heavyweight champion Andre Ward, who has been in retirement since 2017.
Speaking to iFL TV, Ward’s trainer and mentor Virgil Hunter claimed that the Hall of Famer was ‘serious’ about facing Joshua, as he reveals the 41-year-old had been back in the gym preparing for a potential clash with the Brit.
“Well he was serious about that. No disrespect to AJ. It’s just styles once again, styles make fights and I have to go along with what he believes … You got to see the shape and condition that he stays in man, I mean tip-top shape, lives a clean life and things like that, and he’s been to the gym a couple times, sparring and looks the same. It would be a very dangerous fight but I got faith in my kid.”
Ward’s final ring appearance came in June of 2017 when he defeated Russia’s Sergey Kovalev for the second time to retain his unified WBA, WBO and IBF light-heavyweight titles. He would go on to announce his retirement from the sport shortly after with an unbeaten record of 32-0 to his name, cementing himself as one of the greatest fighters of his generation.
