Andre Ward on ‘managing the flames’ of retirement and fighting Anthony Joshua

Former world 168 and 175lbs champion Andre Ward has refused to shut down speculation of a bout with heavyweight Anthony Joshua.

Ward bowed out in 2017 after consecutive victories over Sergey Kovalev. The Oakland star is 32-0 (16 KOS) and has since been inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame, but he recently posted a video on his social media discussing the old business he had at hand with Joshua.

Ward had talked of facing Tony Bellew at cruiserweight on his way up to face Joshua several years ago, but asked whether he was coming back to fight AJ by Ariel Helwani, Ward replied: “I don’t know, man.”

Then the Californian added: “It wasn’t a call out, I was just honest about who I would come back against if I came back and I normally don’t have a name. I get asked this all the time. Who? Who? For some reason, people think I can still make 175. That’s out. It wasn’t easy making ‘75 in 2017. I’m 41 now. But that’s the type of situation that is dangerous enough to make you prepared but it’s the right situation if I had to come back.”

Helwani then asked Ward about the itch to fight again. 

“I’ve been eight years in [retirement],” Ward replied. “It comes in waves. Most days I’m content being right where I’m at. Most days I’m okay doing what I’m doing.”

Ward said he was not looking for things to do, and that he is busy with commentary, investments, and his own podcast and YouTube show, The Art of Ward. He will also lead the line on the broadcast for next week’s Las Vegas showdown between Canelo Alvarez and Terence Crawford on Netflix.

But Ward explained that life after boxing comes hard for fighters, and it is a subject he clearly is passionate about.

“That fighter never dies,” he said. “I think I will write a book about this one day because whether you’re ready or not, you’re going to have to walk away, and the thing that made you great it’s not going to go away, it’s going to continue to burn, and you’ve gotta learn how to manage the flames. Some days you manage it well, and some days you put out videos like I did [talking about fighting Joshua].”