Tony Bellew may be set to test his mettle against the man who is largely believed to be the best pound-for-pound boxer on the planet.
Andre Ward is many fight fans' pick for that honour due to the ease with which he moved up to light heavyweight and beat Sergey Kovalev on two occasions, maintaining his undefeated professional record in the process.
And it looks altogether possible that he will continue his ascent up the weight classes with a cruiserweight clash against Bellew.
Following his most recent victory over Kovalev, Ward had suggested that he would be content to move up to heavyweight for a lucrative meeting with Anthony Joshua but that doesn't look like it's on the table given the pair of mandatory challengers awaiting 'AJ'.
https://twitter.com/SportsJOE_UK/status/876928851300974592?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.joe.co.uk%2Fsport%2Ftony-bellew-is-happy-to-fight-the-pound-for-pound-king-next-130439
But Ward vs. Bellew looks very feasible and the latter has claimed that discussions are ongoing with Ward's camp, after admitting that the ship looks to have sailed in terms of a rematch with British rival David Haye.
“I am going to go out some time in December,” Bellew told Press Association Sport.
“We’ve sat down with Andre Ward’s team, I’ve personally sat down with Joseph Parker and his team, and I leave Eddie [Hearn] to deal with the other fella [Haye] from London.
“David is an amazing fighter, athlete and sportsman, [but] when it comes to business he’s an absolute moron…well it’s not even him, it’s people his side.
“I’m sure they say the business people my side are morons too because we’re all fighting to get that little percentage more.
“I’m further away than ever with the David Haye fight, that’s just the way it is. I’m a lot closer now to the Andre Ward fight than I ever have been before.
“I like the Andre Ward fight. The numbers didn’t match up at first but then Eddie worked out a way where it can work favourably for what I want."
That's not to say that there are no other options available to 'The Bomber', who successfully debuted at heavyweight by stopping Haye in the 11th round of their grudge match at the O2 Arena in March.
Depending on the result of his WBO title defence against Hughie Fury, Joseph Parker could be next up for Bellew if he decides to pursue a world heavyweight title.
Bellew added: “There’s the Joseph Parker fight; the lure of becoming heavyweight champion for me outweighs everything else.
“The money does play a factor but the lure and the dream of becoming heavyweight champion of the world – no money in the world can ever make that up.”
