Andre Ward has been teasing a return to the ring over the past few weeks.
Ward hung the gloves up nearly a decade ago back in 2017, after an exceptional career which began with a gold medal at the 2004 Olympics in Athens.
After turning professional, he went on to become unifie super-middleweight champion after claiming victories over fighters such as Carl Froch, Mikkel Kessler and Arthur Abraham.
He then moved up to 175lbs, where in his final two fights he picked up back-to-back victories over Sergey Kovalev to become WBA, IBF and WBO light heavyweight champion.
Despite now being 41-years-old, Ward has made it clear recently that he would be willing to make a comeback, and he has now named the man who he says he would be more than willing to step back into the ring against.
Speaking on All The Smoke Fight, Ward revealed how a conversation with trainer Bill Haney led to him once again reaffirming his desire to face former unified world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua.
“I’d been talking about fighting Joshua before, but Bill Haney put the seed back in my mind a few weeks ago. He didn’t say you should fight him but he said [what about] Joshua? And I said I’d take that fight right now.”
Joshua is a two-time world heavyweight champion, but hasn’t fought since suffering a fifth round knockout defeat to Daniel Dubois at Wembley Stadium in September 2024.
It’s not the first time Ward has mentioned facing ‘AJ’, previously saying he was gunning for the Brit before retiring and that he was confident of beating him despite the size difference.
“I don’t see a problem with me fighting and beating Joshua because I would’ve worn him down.
“I’m not standing there for you to hit me, and if you did land I believe I would’ve took the right hand.
“I was gonna find a way and I think it would’ve been a lot easier than people realise.”
A clash between Ward and Joshua still remains extremely unlikely, and ‘AJ’ has already responded making it clear what he thinks to the bout.
