Andre Ward will get to relive many fond memories of the sport as he is officially inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in June.

None will be of the sanctioning bodies, or the amount of money he spent to keep the belts in his collection during his perfect pro career.

The retired former two-division champion—now an expert boxing analyst for ESPN—spoke candidly of his disdain for the sanctioning bodies during a recent interview on The Good Fight with Kate Abdo. Oakland’s Ward won five major titles over two weight divisions, with all remaining on a trophy case at home. They are a reminder of what he achieved over the course of his 13-year pro career, though also just how long the sport has been plagued with too many titles.

“I don’t like them,” Ward bluntly told host Kate Abdo of his collective thoughts on the WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO, not singling out any organization individually. “Maybe I’m ignorant to the finer details. But I really need somebody to help me understand what the sanctioning bodies do. How do they justify a percentage of your gross pay? Three percent to be exact. Multiple belts doesn’t stay at three percent—it goes up to three percent per belt.

“Some will say, ‘They supervise the fight, they send their officials.’ They have commissions for that. For example, if there is a WBO belt, they’ll have a WBO official sitting ringside with a WBO patch. No disrespect, but we don’t need that. That’s going to cost me three percent, I don’t need that official presiding over it. We have a whole commission for that—it’s their job.”

Ward—who won Olympic Gold for the U.S. in 2004—claimed his first major pro title in a November 2009 technical decision over then-WBA super middleweight titlist Mikkel Kessler. The win came in the opening round of the Showtime Super Six Super Middleweight tournament Ward later added the WBC strap after outpointing England’s Carl Froch in the December 2011 tournament final.

The win over Froch saw Ward earn lineal championship status, which he valued more than either belt he held at the time. The proof was in his decision to sever ties with the WBC, who in 2013 offered to name him Champion Emeritus after stripping his full title due to undergoing shoulder surgery which left him out of the ring a few months longer than accepted. Ward rejected the offer to remain affiliated with the organization, returning later that year with just the WBA belt in tow which he defended in a twelve-round win over Edwin Rodriguez.

Ward would later win the WBA/IBF/WBO light heavyweight titles in November 2016. Their June 2017 rematch also came with the Ring magazine title at stake, which Ward won via eighth-round knockout in the final fight of his stellar career before retiring later that September at a perfect 32-0 with 16 knockouts.

The pair of Ring belts also remain prominently displayed in Ward’s trophy case. Neither belt cost him a dime to win or retain, while he cannot say the same for any of the five alphabet titles he collected over that same period.

A recent example of the cost it comes to fighters to retain their title status was in the rematch between Jermell Charlo and Brian Castano for the undisputed WBA/WBC/IBF/WBO junior middleweight championship. Castano (17-1-2, 12KOs) entered as the WBO titlist and was required to pay a combined 12% of his reported $500,000 purse to the four sanctioning bodies. Charlo received a slight discount as the unified WBA/WBC/IBF champ, “only” paying a combined 11% of his reported $1,000,000 purse.

“I just think there needs to be an overhaul,” Ward insisted. “The structure as a whole, I don’t agree with it. I don’t like it. I think there needs to be less belts. To me, the most meaningful in any weight class is the Ring magazine belt, the lineal championship. I’m not sure why that’s not a thing across the board. It’s interesting how you’re young, you just want to get that strap. ‘I just want to be known as a champion. I want to physically have it.’ But that belt’s not real. Those aren’t real diamonds. It’s not real gold. Sometimes they’ll do a big press conference where they present you with the belt in an official way. A lot of times, though, you’ll just get a box at your front door. The belt is wrapped in bubble wrap. It’s just dropped off.

“I got all the belts in my office, just collecting dust right now. I have them on display for television but in reality, they’re just collecting dust. I start to do the math… I get sick. Maybe I’m missing something. If they can show me what they bring to the table and justify that, I will come back on this same show and say, ‘I apologize, I didn’t know this.’ I’ve been around boxing a long time and have yet to understand what they do to fully justify it.”

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox