{"id":857016,"date":"2026-08-13T21:20:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T21:20:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/857016\/"},"modified":"2026-08-13T21:20:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T21:20:09","slug":"best-in-the-world-joe-ward-plots-exciting-final-chapter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/857016\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Best in the World’ – Joe Ward Plots Exciting Final Chapter"},"content":{"rendered":"

Joe Ward <\/a>believes the best is still to come.<\/p>\n

After years of frustration, injuries and inactivity, the Irish boxing star insists his new Zuffa Boxing link-up represents the beginning of a second chapter in his pro career \u2014 and he intends to make it his most successful one yet.<\/p>\n

The Olympian returned to action at Dublin\u2019s 3Arena last weekend following 20 months out of the ring and went to war against previously unbeaten Artjom Kasparian.<\/p>\n

Speaking after the blood and guts battle the 32-year-old said he deliberately chose a genuine test for his Zuffa Boxing debut in which he was forced to dig deep before eventually taking control of the contest.<\/p>\n

Now, having got back into the swing of things, the Irish amateur legend has his sights firmly set on the top of the light-heavyweight division.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe that I\u2019m the best 175 in the world. One of the best,\u201d Ward said after the win.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, I need to prove myself. I need to get more activity. I need to be able to show in there that I can dig deep, I can fight.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause I always had the boxing ability, it was about having that dog in me as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

That was one of the major questions surrounding Ward heading into his return.<\/p>\n

Against Kasparian, the sensationally talented Moate man was forced to show another side to his boxing.<\/p>\n

The visitor started quickly and brought serious pressure from the opening bell, giving home fans a scare.<\/p>\n

The much-decorated southpaw weathered the storm and gradually found his rhythm as the fight progressed, mixing skill and will to get the nod.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew it was going to be tough earlier on,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe never did ten rounds before, out of the ring for, as I said, 20 months, and I knew I needed to pace myself. Even through the tough parts of the fight I felt like I was always going to win the fight.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt like I was always going to catch him. There was no stage in my mind that I didn\u2019t think I was going to win it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Irishman believes the ten-round experience was exactly what he needed to prove that he can compete when the going gets tough.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m finding that winning mentality of knowing how to dig deep when things start to go wrong for you sometimes during a fight.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe could have really settled for an easy opponent starting out in Zuffa.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe could have looked for someone with a losing record, someone that wouldn\u2019t really bring much to it or put me under much pressure.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we sat down as a team and said, \u2018Look, we really believe we can go all the way. We\u2019ve got to be beating guys like Kasparian now.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The West Meath man believes the new Zuffa Boxing platform can finally give him the opportunity to fulfil the potential that has surrounded him since his amateur days.<\/p>\n

\u201cDana White, Nick Khan, Zuffa Boxing and obviously Sky Sports and Paramount Plus. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is what a dream is made of \u2014 just to be given an opportunity to be able to regularly fight on the big stage.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is my second chapter in my career, I believe, and this is the final moment, but hopefully the most successful one.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 32-year-old now wants to make up for lost time.<\/p>\n

Rather than easing himself back into action, Ward is targeting regular fights and the best opposition available at 175lbs.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to get out again before Christmas,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to keep busy and I want to get in as many fights as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

And there will be no shortage of ambition behind those fights.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want any easy ones,\u201d Ward declared.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to take on the best in the division. I want to prove to the world that I am the best.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Joe Ward believes the best is still to come. After years of frustration, injuries and inactivity, the Irish…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":857017,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[703,49,48,295189,82],"class_list":["post-857016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-joe-ward","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/857016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=857016"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/857016\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/857017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=857016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=857016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=857016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}