According to Eddie Hearn, promoter for former WBC cruiserweight champion Tony Bellew (29-2-1, 19 KOs), he recently held discussions with the management team behind Andre Ward (32-0, 16 KOs) - and the undefeated Olympic gold medal winner is interested in facing Bellew.
Two weeks ago, Ward returned to the ring and stopped Sergey Kovalev in the eight round of their rematch at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. With the victory Ward retained the WBA, WBO, IBF light heavyweight titles.
After the fight, Ward touched on the possibility of chasing bigger opportunities at cruiserweight and even the heavyweight division.
Ward's trainer, Virgil Hunter, believes his fighter is capable of even beating the current heavyweight king - IBF, IBO, WBA champion Anthony Joshua (19-0, 19 KOs). Bellew, who once fought at light heavyweight and then moved up to cruiserweight to reach great heights for his career, moved all the way to heavyweight in March when he pulled off a shocker by stopping former two division champion David Haye in eleven rounds. Hearn spoke to Ward's management team of James Prince and Josh Dubin, and they advised him that there is serious interest in doing a fight against Bellew. "I spoke to Andre Ward's team last night - James Prince and Josh Dubin - just talking about various things in boxing.," Hearn exclusively told Sky Sports. "Andre Ward has got a big interest in fighting Tony Bellew. That was the first phone call I got after the Ward-Kovalev fight was Tony Bellew saying 'let me fight him. I'll bash him up.' We'll look at that fight." At the moment, there are ongoing discussions to do a year-end rematch between Bellew and Haye, but those negotiations could easily fall through. Ward is currently not being pressed to make a mandatory defense by any of the three sanctioning bodies that he represents. There is enough time to make a voluntary defense is needed.
2023-10-18 21:20:02
2023-10-18 21:22:13
