Eddie Hearn has revealed that he has been attempting to coerce Andre Ward into coming out of retirement for a potential super fight with undisputed cruiserweight king Oleksandr Usyk.

Ward shocked the boxing world in September of 2017, when he announced his decision to retire with immediate effect, despite being widely regarded as one of the finest boxers on the planet. 

Nevertheless, the former unified super middleweight and light heavyweight world champion has remained a massive name in the game, with rumours of a stunning comeback refusing to go away. 

Now, after Usyk once again demonstrated his complete dominance of the cruiserweight division with his brutal victory over former world champion Tony Bellew in November, many have touted the fearsome Ukrainian as a potential opponent. 

Usyk himself, however, has publicly stated that he now views his future in the sports golden heavyweight division, with potential fights against Anthony Joshua, Joseph Parker, and the winner of Dillian Whyte and Dereck Chisora's Saturday night showdown all having been discussed.

Whilst the heavyweight division might hold more long-term pull for Usyk, a fight against Ward, and a chance to once again demonstrate his supremacy as the pound-for-pound king may prove too much to turn down. 

"I think that would be the only fight that Usyk would stick around at cruiserweight for," Hearn told Sky Sports.

"[Usyk vs Ward] is pure boxing. It is the absolute art of the sweet science. It would be the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world, who is undefeated and retired, against the current best pound-for-pound fighter and the fighter of the year.

"There are so many different narratives - it would be a 50-50 fight, Ward going up to cruiserweight.

"I have [spoken to Usyk about this] and I have put it to Ward. But I think it would take something unreasonable to bring Ward out of retirement."

Whilst Ward himself has largely remained coy over a potential return to the sport, his manager recently admitted that the 32-0 fighter was refusing to rule out a future return, if the right circumstances were to arise. 

A fight with Usyk would certainly appear at least to tick this box for many, but it remains to be seen whether both fighters would truly be interested in risking their undefeated records against one another.