Unified light heavyweight champion Andre Ward is a free agent.
In a media scrum after calling the Terence Crawford vs. Julius Indongo fight for ESPN, Ward revealed that his contract with HBO is up and he is free to choose his next television home.
"I am still with Roc Nation 100%. My contract is up (with HBO) right now so I am a free agent there. My team is talking and working. Like I said options will be presented in a couple weeks," said Ward.
Ward is just the latest fighter whose contract has run out with HBO in the past year. Guys like Manny Pacquiao and Vasyl Lomachenko have left HBO and established a new home with ESPN alongside Top Rank. Top Rank and ESPN have worked together to broadcast three boxing cards in the past two months and Ward sees the relationship between ESPN and Top Rank as a good thing for the future of the sport.
"I will tell you this - this is beautiful tonight - what Top Rank and ESPN are doing. You have to notice what they are doing and any fighter I think would want to be a part of this. That I will tell you," Ward said.
Ward's last two fights, both HBO pay-per-view headliners, came against Sergey Kovalev, but both fights have drawn a low pay-per-view butyrate. ESPN, on the other hand, had one of the highest-viewed boxing fights in the last 10 years in the first Top Rank on ESPN card in July.