Unbeaten former super middleweight and light heavyweight champion Andre Ward, who has been retired for two years, said Friday on ESPN SportsCenter that he will not return to the ring to face WBO light heavyweight champion Canelo Alvarez, who also holds the WBA super middleweight and middleweight titles and the WBC’s franchise designation.
“I’m not coming out of retirement to fight Canelo Alvarez,” said Ward, who is still just 35 years of age. “There’s been a lot of talk when [Canelo-Kovalev] was signed and obviously since Canelo got the victory over Kovalev. My phone’s been blowing up nonstop. There’s been a lot of pressure from individuals in the business, entertainers, you name it, trying to pull me out and it’s just not something that I’m interested in doing.”
Good for Andre Ward. Even he knows that if the fight goes the distance, the judges will give Canelo another gift decision.
Canelo Álvarez is P 4 P #1 Fighter in the world and he would KO Ward if they fight! Keep Hating on the Mexican Champion Canelo Álvarez y que viva México Cabron!
King Boxing, without hating it is obvious that Saul would have no answer to ward’s style. School would be in session for volume 2. Volume 1 being the schooling mayweather gave him.
Couldnt have said it better
Canelo also went to to school, and lost, to Lara.. so it would be School Volume 3
That’s right. Totally forgot about the Lara fight.
Never lost to Lara. It was an ugly fight. Lara has more overall punches but Alvarez landed more power shots. Lara had 10 more punches landed but Alvarez landed like 30 more power punches. By those numbers your saying Lara landing less than 1 jab per round more than Alvarez should win him the fight vs Canelo’s harder shots. That doesn’t hold water.
There bnb is way more to this game than Punch Stat numbers kiddo.. Google the scoring criteria for professional matches .. Roid Boy list the Lara fight
Wish I had read this before my own comment;-)
Not if they give Ward the same juice that Canelo is taking. If Canelo keeps going, he can play the hulk in the next Avengers movie. 100 natural.
How can he be pound for pound when Floyd made him look like an Amatuer
Canelo was drained at 152 pounds and was 22 years old not even close to the fighter he is now.
BigAl, and now Saul likes to drain his opponents.
Drained down to 2 lbs below his previous fight before Floyd and rehydrated to like 170 on fight night. He got spanked and it wasn’t even close. Floyd’s amazing speed and agility advantage at the age of 36 was astounding!
Because Floyd is TBE and retired
Fraudnelo jajaj
Hahaha…Ward would school Canelo. But even then the judges would probably give him the fight.
Canelo is a drugs cheat, sure he looks good, but how much of that is down to the juice?
You comment is really silly. Who hates Mexican fighters most are fabulous including Canelo. Ward at his best would have made Canelo look bad and most prob hurt him so be glad they never fought..ask previous SM champs like Froch and Kessler. He would never have been able to out muscle or out box Andre . AW is the best SM since the division started better even than Calzaghe. So enjoy Saul he is a little special and earned a few of his stripes even the ones gifted to him.
Humphrey, couldn’t agree with you more. I’ve always supported canelo but recently have not been liking what he does. It’s like James toney used to say, “safety first”. And granted I know I’m not the one putting my life at risk, but he chose to step in the ring to entertain us paying fans.
I understand rooting for your countrymen, but Canelo is not the top P4P guy, and he could only beat Ward if Ward could not be the old Andre Ward. The Andre Ward who was a fighter would have starched Canelo. He is bigger, stronger, faster and rougher than Canelo. People thought Ward was a cream puff. He roughed up rough fighters Bika and Froch, and out boxed the rest of them.
If Ward is 80% of what he was he wins unanimously 8 – 4 easily. Ward is bigger, stronger and most importantly a better, smarter boxer.
Canelo is an a$$ clown and a puppet to DelaChicken.
Ward is retired and has been for years. Fight Charlo or Elider Alveraz
Yep, cherry-pickin’ a fighter in retirement past his prime! I am telling ya guys, Oscar is laughing all the way to the bank! We get suckered in to supporting this behavior by watching the fights with no global protest but here on this forum! I refuse to ever pay a dime to see any of Alvarez’s fights.
Scooby do be doo 😉
just like his gift decision against kovalev
I don’t know about that…Andre is a more sacred cow than Canelo when it comes to decisions.
Andre Ward is not a sell out like Kovalev (who fought his last fight for money only and absolutely nothing else – not even for pride, what to speak of seriously trying to win the fight).
Its good to see at least one principled (former) champ who can’t be bought by money. Ward left tens of millions of $$ on the table because he stuck by his decision to retire early and on his own terms.
I know that most boxing fans would want him to come out of retirement. Its a tempting thought but Ward had a fantastic career and he doesn’t have to prove anything to anyone anymore.
Ward in his prime against Alvarez in his prime is a no brainer: 100% win for Ward.
You are 100% spot-on about everything you said except that Ward left millions of dollars on the table because of some type of principle. No, he left boxing early because of three people named Beterbiev, Bivol and Gvozdyk. Ward lost to kovalev and there was no way he was beating the other three so he ran away from the sport. Ward has no all-time great and his skills are highly overrated. Truly skilled fighters like Lomachenko, Inoue and Crawford don’t have to cheat in their fights to win.
Agree! That nutcracker TWICE lost to Krusher and ran away with all that UNearned money.
Alexdougan, I thought you said nutcracker because he looked like one, I always thought he had the Pac-Man smiley face.
I’ve always felt that he was overrated. Nice guy, but I never saw anything special about him
Many of the old great fighters fought on far too long because they had no choice and beaten up in later days by guys that would never have touched them and still relatively young men hurt and with mental issues. The modern greats have learned from the past with better management and care for the future …it takes a small mistake in that ring to get messed up long term. Ward knows what’s best for him so who are we to question him.
Chris: Beterbiev, Bivol and Gvozdyk were barely on the radar in 2917. Neither of them could have challenged for a championship fight yet.
Beterbiev & Co are excellent fighters and they will write their own history, with or without facing a Ward of Alvarez.
Ward retired because his body was beat up and he lost his desire to fight.
Total bull! Bicol etc have been hanging around fighting bums for years and in case you forgot , Ward was the 168 in champ and moved up for that fight. Kov never fought either and he was the 175 ib champ for years
I remembered when the super middleweight started some times back. I reviewed all these seasoned boxing sport junkies from hbo, showtime, espn , etc . I still hv d magazine with all there predictions, none of them picked Ward to win, why ? They went we former or current champions. I had Andrea Ward from the start, because of style, amateur back and pure talent skills period. My few hundred dollars bet would of banked me close to 3,000 . Easy as pie . Guess who won ?
Thank you Andre Ward!
Ward is a joke! He’s a boring DIRTY fighter and not worth watching. He holds more than anyone I’ve ever seen besides maybe Mayweather. He definitely lost his first fight with Kovalev and he won the second fight with low blows. VERY forgettable career, I’d rather watch paint dry. Skillful fighter, yes. Entertaining, not at all. Do us all a favor and stay retired. As for Canelo…. how typical to call out another “old” and even RETIRED fighter. What an absolute embarrassment!!! He should be trying to unify at LH if that’s where he plans to stay. Doesn’t he have enough money?? Why not fight Beterbiev or Bivol? Ohh, probably because they will actually give him a hard fight. It gets easier and easier to dislike and root against Canelo.
Spot on accurate post, Berserker !
Not a Ward fan, but think he’s effective in an ugly way and believe he beat Canelo.
Canelo is juicing cherry picker who’s not interested in unifying any division, as that’s where the real risks are.
In the old days, he’s be a solid contender, but nowadays, in the absurd world of Boxing where at any one time you can have 5 or more guys claiming to be ‘world champs’ he’s seen as a 4 weight champ…..I don’t buy it.
Ward beat the crap out of Kov and humiliated him. Not his fault that Kov had his shorts pulled up underneath his chin. He made Kov quit with a shot to the jaw and body blows not low blows! Slow mo revealed that
Good for you, Andre. Stay retired and enjoy your present life…you’ve earned it and have nothing left to prove.
Not interested in seeing another Ward fight ever again.
Good athleticism … Boring fighting style … Kind of a Lt. HW Mayweather … Shows NO BALLS unless he’s got an opponent exhausted or out on his feet … Again, BORING !
Wow.. it is now very apparent that Canelo has more balls than GGG. Good for Canelo for trying and kudos for Ward for not accepting since he is legitimately retired. Not even to this day wld GGG try and get a fight with Ward. Guaranteed
Possibly true, but who’s talking about GGG?
GGG is 37, never was a big middle weight and is now clearly on the slide.
This is about juice boy Canelo, the ‘champ’ who isn’t interested in unifying,. Some champ.
IM talking about GGG. Every post of Canelo, people talk about GGG, this is for all the GGG bandwagon trolls. And Canelo doesnt need to unify. Hes not that type of fighter anymore unfortunately. It sux for us cuz we wanna see it happen but its apparent he is only going after those he wants to fight and where the money is and that is his perogative. Hes the fighter not us
Cherry pickers only fight the fighters they want to fight – real fighters fight the best out there.
Ward would ko canelo
I don’t understand why people just don’t get it. If he doesn’t want to box then he doesn’t want to box. It’s like a bunch of filthy leaches that just won’t let it go.
Ward lost the drive even before rematching Kovalev. He is a fresh not beaten fighter that if he wants to return with a high degree of motivation, hand down he should be able to defeat Canelo. Hard sale fighter? Not in a fight of this magnitude. If he says no to possible 20M pay heck, is just because Ward is a man of honor and real committed with his family.
He deserves a lot of respect for that.
I tip my hat off to a great champ Andre Ward of our era, in his prime he fought all the great respected fighters of his generation. Sadly but true, Canelo would do himself justice to his Legacy to do the same. Canelo should stop cherry picking belt holders that are past their prime or have no chance. As it is, he is a gifted champ in Vegas…I commence all boxers, however fight the competition in your weight class. Legacies are built when you fight the best, once you clean a division, by all means clean the next weight class.
Andre proves once again, like Gene Tunney did years before, to trust his instincts and retire on top. There will always be $$$ dangled to tempt you.
Oops. I know Canelo was hoping that Ward would take the bait and rescue him from his inevitable fate. But it is either him fighting Golovkin 3 or Andrade while being weight drained, taking on the killers at 168 and 175, or what he’s likely to do in fighting some no-hoper at 168 or 175 because his dumb fans will eat it up and still consider him the greatest. Either way, he’ll never be able to complete his 8 contracted fights with DAZN. A fitting end for the biggest primadonna in boxing history:-)
Chris..Seems like u follow Canelo more than a fat kid follows cake.. i think deep down inside that ur prejudice ass might jus be a Canelo fan as much as u like to jump in on posts with his name. Keep it coming Chris, ur prejudice and mind of a crazy mad man keeps us entertained.. and that is a FACT since u like them facts lmao
Ward was legitimately 1-1 against the Krusher, Canelo never fought the Krusher Kovalev is a shell of his former self
Canelo is on a roll. He’s feeling very confident. Taking on Ward with the exception of the money would be a bad move, Ward very talented,always in shape is far more skilled than Canelo. I think Ward is where his roll will stop. Ward would make Canelo miss most of his punches,counter effectively n win a lopsided decision or bust up his face for possible late round stoppage. Can’t see Canelo winning that fight. Everyone has a price n I hope Ward puts his balls on the line n excepts the fight. Come on Ward, fight one more time n show us again why you are great. Don’t get any older n fight him now. He’s calling you out!
Ward has no reason to come out and prove what everyone (ecept from mexicans and idiots) know: That he…Ward…would become p4p again after only one fight. Actually, he needs only to say: I am coming back…and that should be enough to reward him the number 1 p4p sopt!!!
Canelo is Mr. fucking Nobody….Lost every round to Floyd, and lost to Lara…lost to GG twice, and was losing to Khan and Kovalev before he got lucky….He was in fact taken to school by Floyd and Khan!!!!
Its a sad day boris that everyone (besides Floyd) keeps losing to “a Mr. Fucking Nobody) as u put it.granted, the Lara fight could have gone to Lara, ill buy that, i get it. AND yes GGG beat him first fight, but if u think GGG won the second fight, then u know shit about boxing. In the visual he did great, but to someone who knows boxing very well and been in the ring, we all know GGG got his ass handed to him. GGG asked for a mexican fighter and he got one. Then didnt know what to do with it
Listen Boris, you’re Bad Enough to qualify for a refund on those English lessons! Do something about your affliction compa!
And when they say “ward rejects” it likely means he won’t take “lay down” money. GOOD FOR HIM!!! I’d imagine that he was offered money to come lay down.. Not to come fight.
Some (a few) very questionable wins for “chickenshit” and dirty fighter Andre Ward! Of course he wants to stay safe…
WBC and North Korean style CENSORSHIP happening on this board!
Welcome to the new “america”. PC culture reigns and only ONE point of view is allowed!
Why don’t Canelo fight someone else in their prime like Beterbiev or David Benevidez?
No way in hell a 35 year old Ward whose been out of boxing beats Canelo. Ward knows he would get knocked out.
Enter your comment…wilder would destroy Ortiz in their rematch come Nov. 23. And Joshua would flattened Ruiz at Saudi on the 7th of Dec. 2019. very easily.
This article isn’t about wilder, Ortiz, Joshua or Ruiz. This is about ward and canelo.
News came out making it appear that Andre wanted it if the pasos were correct.
Andre Chickenson
Canelo was 22, had already fought 30 fights , including looking great In beating an undefeated Austin trout when he fought Floyd ..Mayweather was 36, 6 years after his biggest fights in DLH and Hatton..Mayweather schooled a prime Canelo when he was way past his prime ..enough said
Canelo wouldn’t take a Ward fight now, no way!
Canelo likes old men who are clearly on the decline, never have beens and the easiest route to as many trinkets as he can get his hands on.
Sure he’s a good fighter, but he’s also a drugs cheat, so many of his accomplishments are questionable.
Don’t believe the media hype.
Good for him.
Ward is an accomplished fighter and a smart guy. He doesn’t need money
He has other goals in life. He is an esample fighters should always keep in mind when planning their life after boxing.
Hopkins?
Good for Ward.
How surprising the Canelo team would call out a guy who’s hasnt fought in two+ years. Gutless fucks.
no guts
Ward better than calzaghe? Pffft
Canelo trying cherry pick names for his resume. Surprised RJJ wasn’t the target. Ward would do the same thing Floyd did but Lara and GGG failed to do. Win AND get the decision.
Good for ward.he left his mark,and fought the best at super middleweight and light heavyweight.his style was not the best for some boxing fans.but I loved to watch him Fighting the best,and that was when he was at his best.if he did come out of retirement he would need a tune up first. Oscar de la Hoya is good at that. Trying to get every advantage he can for canelo.but to me ward to strong for canelo ask Carl froch.
Canelo needs to stick to the Floyd Mayweather plan; cherry pick for dollars. He can beat shot fighters and steal decisions from nearly shot fighters with more skill but great fighters will embarrass him. Andre Ward is waaaaaayyyyy to good a fighter for Canelo. Even the retired version. Andre didn’t beat the Kovalev leftovers he ruined the Krusher. Big difference. Stay in your lane little man.
Reject those cowards, running away from a GGG rematch as fast as they possibly can! They had many fights at 160 and decided to move up to fight a tired old Kovalev and seek the “free throws”. Canelo is a cheater and a puppet to the DelaCoward antics.
Canelo’s balls thanks you.
Uh, didn’t Ward retire years ago?
lo Floyd literally made Canelo cry
Andre is smart for turning down the predators. I love Andre for this. Good job, Andre. No worries. You earned your spot in the IBHOF. You have nothing more to prove.
WARDS A SMART FIGHTER AND I BELIEVE IF HE DID COME BACK HE’D WIN… THING IS HE HAS NOTHING TO PROVE PLUS HE HAS MONEY….. HE’S ALSO A SMART MAN… HE GOT IN WON THE MONEY HE WANTED AND RETIRED UNHURT…
Stay retired brother and enjoy your family. you left the sport on top and medically doing well. its not worth it especially if your heart isn’t in the sport anymore.
Man Ill tell you,for 50 million Ill come out. Forget that. Thats a win win scenario. Even with an 0 on your record.