Sergio Mora believes it’s a “ridiculous” idea for 41-year-old Andre Ward to come out of retirement to fight heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua. He says Ward (32-0, 16 KOs) could get hurt fighting the much bigger two-time champion Joshua (28-4, 25 KOs) after being retired for eight years.
Ward is a former two-division world champion, winning titles at super middleweight and light heavyweight. He retired in 2017 after stopping Sergey Kovalev. Although Ward had talked about wanting to come back years ago, he’s chosen not to. Now, he seems more interested in returning if he can get a fight against Joshua, whom he called out last week on social media.
Mora on Ward’s Dangerous Fight
“He’s going to be the way smaller man. This is going to be ridiculous. It’s a young man’s sport, and you can get hurt, especially if you’re moving up to fight a giant,” said Sergio Mora on the Chris Mannix channel, talking about Andre Ward trying to hustle a fight against Anthony Joshua.
If Ward gets the fight with Joshua, it’ll help cushion his retirement with the millions he’d get. He could move from the dreary, desolate Dublin, California, to the more upscale, ultra-wealthy neighborhood in Atherton, California. He could live well among the upper crust with the big payday from battling AJ in a quick return to the ring.
Ward has got to know he wouldn’t stand a chance of beating Joshua, especially now at 41 and having been retired for eight years. The money would be out of this world good and easily the biggest payday of Ward’s career.
“He’s still a much bigger championship-level fighter, and Andre Ward has been retired for eight years. I could see it if it were,” said Mora.
Ward would stand no chance coming out of retirement and fighting cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia, or the light heavyweights Dmitry Bivol, Artur Beterbiev, and David Benavidez. Picking Joshua gives Ward an excuse to tell fans after he loses. He was beaten by a heavyweight in a division he had never fought in.
“People in boxing must really think Joshua is washed. You’ve got Jake Paul thinking he’s got a chance against AJ. You’ve got Tony Yoka, and now you’ve got Andre Ward, eight years removed from his last fight at light heavyweight, believing he’s got a chance against AJ,” said Mannix.
Ward’s Return for Millions
It’s not that fighters like Jake Paul, Tony Yoka, and Ward view Joshua as over-the-hill. This is more about money. Fighting Joshua means a mega-million payday that you wouldn’t get fighting other guys. It’s common knowledge that AJ is nearing the end of his career, and wants to make the most money possible before retiring. That’s become his focus now.
“Eight years out of the ring means something. Going up to heavyweight means something. Fighting a puncher like Anthony Joshua means something. At his size going up to that weight class, it’s inevitable that he’s going to eat a right hand. Even against Sergey Kovalev, he ate a right hand, and he went down,” said Mannix.
It would be obvious that Ward would have a chance of surviving inside the ring with Joshua for more than two or three rounds under the best possible circumstances. Ward would need to run and hold AJ. Even with the clinching, Ward would be at great danger of being hit point-blank by AJ and knocked out. It’s not like he would have the strength to prevent the much bigger Joshua from wrestling an arm free, knocking his lights out with either hand.