Andre Ward made a cryptic post on social media today, seemingly hinting at a comeback.
Ward (32-0, 16 KOs), a 40-year-old former two-division world champion, posted a video clip of his training and past fight with Carl Froch with the caption, “I want all the smoke.” At the end of the clip, it gave a date of July 22nd, this Monday.
Who Could Andre Ward Fight?
If this is a comeback, it will be interesting to see who Ward faces and when Some fans on social media believe he could be one of the candidates for undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez’s next fight in September.
He needs a big name, especially if he wants to take back his September 14th date from the UFC, who snatched it from him by planning one of their events on that date.
The winner of the October 12th undisputed light heavyweight championship between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol is another direction Ward could take. Fighting whoever emerges victorious from that fight in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, would be a massive payday for Ward.
It might upset David Benavidez for Ward to jump the line, but he’ll get over it. This is the entertainment business, and a fight involving Ward against the Bivol-Beterbiev winner would be huge.
Ward hasn’t fought in seven years since stopping former unified light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev in the eighth round in their rematch on June 17, 2017. Ward was only 33 and too young to retire while still in his prime.
For boxing fans alarmed at Ward returning at 40, he’s only one year older than 39-year-old IBF/WBC/WBO light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbeiv and three years older than Terence Crawford, who turns 37 on September 28.
Besides a potential fight against Canelo, Ward has many exciting matches. A rematch with Carl Froch would attract a lot of interest from fans in the UK. Froch is 47 but in good shape, and he might be open to a chance to run it back to avenge his twelve-round unanimous decision loss to him in December 2011.
Ward is probably thinking of bigger fights than a rematch against Froch. It would be huge if Ward got a chance to fight the winner of Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol.
Recently, Ward has been sparring with Terence Crawford, helping him get in shape for his August 3rd fight against WBA junior middleweight champion Israil Madrimov on His Excellency Turki Alalshikh’s Riyadh Season card on DAZN and ESPN+ PPV at the BMO Stadium in Los Angeles.
I WANT ALL THE SMOKE 💨 pic.twitter.com/ARkIMYdTnI
— Andre S.O.G. Ward (@andreward) July 20, 2024
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