Andre Ward's Manager Not Ruling Out Potential Return
James Prince, the manager of former unified super middleweight and light heavyweight champion Andre Ward (32-0, 16 KOs), is not ruling out the possibility of his boxer taking a lucrative fight in the future.
The 34-year-old fighter announced his retirement in 2017, a few months after stopping Sergey Kovalev in their HBO Pay-Per-View rematch. The second fight was an immediate rematch after Ward won a controversial unanimous decision in their first bout in 2016.
But the retirement announcement has not prevented Ward from being named as a potential opponent by several top fighters.
Unified super middleweight champion Callum Smith is hoping to face Ward, unified cruiserweight Oleksandr Usyk is willing to delay his move to heavyweight for a potential fight with Ward, and promoter Eddie Hearn has even mentioned his name as a potential foe for unified heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua.
Prior to his retirement, Ward had discussed the idea of moving up in weight to capture a world title at cruiserweight or heavyweight - and Joshua was mentioned as a potential target.
But after failing to reach an agreement with Tony Bellew for a potential cruiserweight bout, Ward made an unexpected decision to retire from the sport. Most insiders expected the Olympic gold medal winner to continue fighting for a few more years.
Hearn promotes Smith, Usyk and Joshua. He believes Ward is looking to return to the ring.
Prince indicates that a ring return is possible - if the right situation came up.
"We had a lot of success. He left the ring a wealthy man and put 'to be continued'," Prince exclusively told Spencer Fearon for the Ringside Toe 2 Toe podcast.
"You never know, there may be a 'to be continued' situation. Andre is a retired fighter right now. I believe that all things are possible. I'll leave it at that.
"All things are possible, if the right situation is presented, is allowed, you never know."