Netflix has hired former ESPN commentator Andre Ward to be a ringside analyst for the Canelo Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford event on September 13th at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.
From Retirement to Ringside Analyst
Ward’s contract with ESPN expired on June 30, 2023, and he hadn’t taken on any other commentating jobs until this one. The former two-division world champion Ward, 41, recently expressed interest in fighting Anthony Joshua, and said he’s come out of his eight-year retirement if he could get the fight.
Although Joshua didn’t take the callout seriously, it drew a lot of attention from fans and the media. He’d been a forgotten man until then.
“I’m going to be the third man ringside calling the Canelo Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford fight on September 13th at Allegiant Stadium,” said Andre Ward to the Ring Magazine on X, letting fans know he’s been hired as an analyst to work the Canelo-Crawford gig on Netflix next month.
Ward (32-0, 16 KOs) had a successful professional career, winning world titles at 168 and 175. He abruptly retired after knocking out Sergey Kovalev in the eighth round on June 17, 2017.
“I’m excited to be part of this event. I’m excited to be ringside calling this great card and this great match-up,” Ward continued. “It’s a historic event for many reasons for both fighters. It’s super middleweight supremacy on the line. Legacy is on the line. Your namesake and reputation are on the line.
Canelo-Crawford Adds Ringside Royalty
“This is rare,” said Ward about Crawford, 37, and Canelo, 35, taking big risks late in their career in this lucrative fight. “Guys don’t want to take that kind of smoke. They don’t want to face another counterpart that could ruin everything they’ve built. And it doesn’t matter how much is on the table for guys. They’d rather take a lesser risk for less money than to risk everything the way these fighters are doing.
“I want to thank Turki Alalshikh for putting this fight on and Dana White for putting this fight on,” said Ward.