Calling it right now. He's still young. Big money fights on the table. Within 2 years, S.O.G comes out of retirement
I think right now a guy in Ward's position (recently retired with a marketable name) has to be looking at the arms race started up by DAZN and thinking to himself "WTF did I miss out on??" Same reason Klitschko is suddenly itching for a comeback probably. Bivol would be a great fight, but perhaps Ward would be keener to grab a Cruiser strap against the WBSS winner.
He's doing a Mayweather, letting 175lb fighters beat each other up for a bit, then he'll survey who is the best option once they've given each other a bit of wear and tear
Sounds plausible. Tony Bellew didn't spend all that time trailing a possible fight with Ward for no reason. Stands to reason someone had told him that he was amenable to coming back if the offer was right.
DAZN is on a spending spree bigger than what Roc Nation was when they handed huge deals to Andre and Rigo. If he can get a piece of that, we may well see him back. However, he also had more mileage and wear and tear on him than usual for a top fighter his age. I could see him taking the Calzaghe route of retiring unbeaten with enough money to live comfortably and sticking to it. He's not a guy who needs to fight any more.
Young? Are you plugged in kid? I remember Andre way back when he was fighting sub-novice in the amateurs. Hes 35 -- almost exactly to the day a year younger than me. And he's been retired for over two years. And you're suggesting he returns within 2 more years on top of all that? He is 100% factually on the decline physically/athletically, and has been for a few years already at least. Between my years boxing and in the USMC infantry, I've personally seen, witnessed, and dealt with the fact that certain and very specialized skills in both atrophy quite quickly if an individual doesnt constantly and consistently train hard and a lot to keep them up to par. That's the main reason why in the US military, JSOC units(Delta, Seal Team 6, RRC, ISA, and sometimes Ranger Battalions) deploy for 3-4 months at a time. Their operational tempo in those months is usually through the roof and they are consistently involved in close quarters combat/direct action raids, which is arguably the toughest and most specialized skills to master and maintain so they deploy once a year for a short period and then come home and hone their skills rabidly. Ward is no brawler, he was an EXCEPTIONALLY skilled boxer. The skills he possesses/possessed are equally as specialized, difficult to master, and difficult to maintain as those elite combat troops skill sets. You'd be amazed how quickly skills like them can atrophy. Even if he has been consistently in the gym and training since his retirement, he still hasnt been competing so without question his boxing skills have atrophied. Add to that his physical deterioration and ring rust, I'd say(and hope) he doesn't return, regardless how much bread hes offered. Andre is a very smart individual, too smart and real with himself IMO to make a return to professional boxing, especially at the world class level.
