Andre Ward Eyes A Return To The Ring, But Only For Anthony Joshua And With A Specific Weight Stipulation In Place

Andre Ward says there would be a weight stipulation in place if he came out of retirement to fight Anthony Joshua. The 41-year-old Ward (32-0, 16 KOs) states that a fight against the former two-time heavyweight champion Joshua is “dangerous enough” to make him want to prepare.

Ward doesn’t say why he’s targeting Joshua (28-4, 25 KOs), given that he’s coming off a fifth-round knockout loss. It would make more sense for Ward to try to hustle his way into a fight against one of the top 15 contenders rather than focus solely on Joshua.

Hearn’s Swift Rejection

The bad news for Ward is that AJ’s promoter, Hearn, has already dismissed the idea of this fight happening. Hearn mentioned that the fight would lack commercial appeal. Ward has been retired for too long, having hung up his gloves in 2017. Even when Ward was still fighting, he wasn’t popular. You can only imagine how poor the PPV numbers would be for a fight between Joshua and Ward.

Hearn says the two fighters he wants for Joshua are Tyson Fury and Jake Paul. Those are fights that will bring in huge money. Those are big names still capable of bringing in a lot of PPV buys.

“I was just honest about who I would come back against if I came back,” said Andre Ward to the Ariel Helwani YouTube channel about his callout of Anthony Joshua. “People think I can still make 175. That’s out. It wasn’t easy making 175 in 2017. I’m 41 now.”

It doesn’t matter if Ward can’t make 175. He’s not what Hearn is looking for. If Ward is looking to find someone dangerous that will motivate him enough to get in the gym, he should fight Moses Itauma or Filip Hrgovic.

“That’s the type of situation that is dangerous enough to make you prepare,” said Ward about Joshua. “But it’s the right situation if I were to come back. When you get older, your reflexes wane a little bit, and of course, I think I still have a lot left in the tank. But I don’t know.”

If Ward lacks the ambition to get in the gym unless Joshua’s his opponent, what does that say about him? Where’s the willingness to work and the ambition? That sounds like Ward has a combination of apathy and burnout. There are plenty of other fighters Ward could fight besides Joshua. For him to just want a fight against AJ hints that he’s just looking for a big payday.

The Unlikely Weight Stipulation

“If you’re going to deal with something at an older age, you want to deal with more power and the size of an opponent and not skill, quickness, and speed,” said Ward. “That’s a lot different to deal with than dealing with power. That’s how I look at it. So, we’ll see. Of course,” said Ward when asked if there would be weight stipulations for a fight with Joshua.

There’s no chance that Ward would be able to negotiate a weight stipulation with the much more popular Joshua. This isn’t 2017 with Ward fighting Sergey Kovalev. Joshua is out of his league in terms of popularity. In my opinion, Ward has no chance of getting a weight stipulation in place for a fight against AJ.

“For me, I don’t think that fight [Ward] is as big as some people think, mainly from Andre’s team. I know Joshua would take the fight, but I think when it spits the numbers out, it won’t be quite what they seem. And, obviously, when we’re talking about a Jake Paul fight [it’s a much bigger one],” said Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn to Australian Boxing Central, reacting to Ward’s callout of Joshua.