Tony Bellew confirms talks with Andre Ward for potential cruiserweight title fight

Tony Bellew has revealed that he has begun talks over the possibility of a cruiserweight title fight against Andre Ward.

Ward (32-0 record in boxing) retained his WBA, WBO and IBF light heavyweight titles after defeating Sergey Kovalev via an eight round TKO on Saturday (17 June).

Following the win, the California native, regarded as the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world, revealed that he would be open to moving up weight classes and fighting at either cruiserweight or heavyweight.

While he targeted heavyweight world champion Anthony Joshua, Ward admitted that a move to cruiserweight would come first and Bellew (29-2-1 record in boxing) is the ideal opponent in that weight class.

The WBC emeritus champion notably defeated David Haye in a heavyweight grudge match in March and has been waiting on the sidelines for his next potential bout.

Having become WBC cruiserweight champion in May 2016, Bellew's status was changed to emeritus champion following his heavyweight bout with Haye as it was unclear which weight class he would fight in next.

However, with the 34-year-old able to contest the cruiserweight title at any time, it looks like his next fight could come against Ward as the Liverpool native confirmed that talks had begun between his promoter, Eddie Hearn, and Ward's team.

"Andre Ward is saying he wants to do heavyweight or cruiserweight – a man like me can accommodate him," Bellew said, as quoted on Metro. "Eddie Hearn has spoken with representatives of Ward's. We've had talks and we're going to go from there."

"HBO like it, they know me. I do good numbers for them. The talks will continue to progress now and we'll see where it takes us."