In 2017, former two division world champion Andre Ward (32-0, 16 KOs), 34 years old, announced his retirement from the sport.

Ward's last fight came in June of last year, when he picked up an eight round stoppage of Sergey Kovalev to retain the IBF, WBA, WBO light heavyweight world titles.

There was the possibility of a fight last fall, with former WBC cruiserweight world champion Tony Bellew.

After his recent knockout victory over David Haye, Bellew pressed for a showdown with Ward.

There was a lot of money on the table, but Ward's wouldn't bite.

Instead, Ward is taking part in the upcoming season of 'The Contender' reality show.

The contestants were recently announced. Ward is one of the hosts of the show. Ward has been training with the fighters involved with the program and he's even sparred with some of them.

“[The itch to return comes around] but then all of a sudden that desire to come back somehow just disappears, it just evaporates. Being in there with them gives you the hunger and reminds you why you want to keep going. But it also reminds you and it reminded me of why I retired,” Ward said to

“I genuinely love the sport. I just wasn’t in the sport to make money and become famous. Those things were really secondary. I genuinely loved the craft, I loved the sport and even more so I loved the people that are associated with the sport. I care about the fighters because I was once was a fighter. And that’s still hard to say. But it’s a fact. I’m a former fighter and I know what these guys are going through. They’re looking for an opportunity, they’re looking for a shot.”

These days, Ward is focusing on commentating for ESPN and HBO, and managing fighters like Olympic silver medal winner Shakur Stevenson.