Tony Bellew (30-2-1, 20 KOs) is gunning for a showdown with former super middleweight and light heavyweight champion Andre Ward (32-0, 16 KOs), who retired last year.

Ward has not fought since he stopped Sergey Kovalev in their rematch in June of 2017.

Prior to Ward's retirement, there was some discussion regarding a potential fight with Bellew at the cruiserweight limit - but the two sides were unable to reach a financial agreement.

Bellew was the WBC cruiserweight champion, but last March he moved up to the heavyweight division to secure a shocking eleventh round stoppage over domestic rival David Haye.

But the victory had a big shadow of doubt, because Haye ruptured his Achilles in the sixth round and was fighting the rest of the way on one leg.

The rematch took place on Saturday night, back at the O2 Arena in London, and saw Bellew set the record straight with a fifth round stoppage of Haye.

He sent Haye down three times in the contest, twice in the third round and once again in the fifth - before the contest was waved off.

After the fight was over, he called for a fight with Ward - and believes that he would knock him out.

"I will beat Andre Ward, I will knockout Andre Ward," Bellew said. "He's a pound-for-pound king but I will beat him."

There was also some talk of a potential fight with former heavyweight king Tyson Fury (25-0, 19 KOs), who returns to the ring next month in Manchester - after being inactive since November of 2015, when he traveled over to Germany and shocked the world by winning a twelve round decision over Wladimir Klitschko.

But it appears that Ward is the preference on Bellew's mind for the moment.

"It's a fight [against Fury] I like," Bellew said. "There's loads of options, we will just have to see. Ward wants the fight."