Andre Ward is one of the greatest technical boxers to ever live.
He’s regarded as one of the best of his generation, but, like a Joe Calzaghe for instance, he’s not typically seen in the same celebrated light as other undefeated fighters like Floyd Mayweather or even Tyson Fury.
It’s a truly elite list of fighters who go their whole career unbeaten and remain a champion for years. Mayweather and Rocky Marciano sit atop of that list, but what about Ward?
The 'S.O.G' - Son of God - won gold at the 2004 Olympics in Athens in the light-heavyweight category to cap off an extraordinary amateur career that spawned a reported record of 114-5.
Basically, Ward has not lost a single fight since he was 14.
“He was a fighter before he was a boxer,” said Virgil Hunter, Ward’s godfather and trainer.
“When he started in the amateurs, he was a fighter for the first 40, 50 fights of his career.
“As he got experience, he realised you have to bring more to the plate than just the ability to fight. That’s how he evolved into the tactician he is today. Deep down, though, that fighter is still there.
“That’s something his opponents don’t realise until they get in there with him. They discover things they never imagined.”
Early on, Ward was technically proficient, but the speed of his hands at super-middleweight upward to light-heavyweight was streets ahead of anyone else.
But even with that, Ward always believed his footwork was more important.
“Your feet are your first line of defence," he explained. "You don’t have to be a mover but even when you’re on the inside and you can turn directions…it’s the difference between getting hit and not getting hit sometimes."
And Ward was not shy about who he modelled his winning style on and he picked some pretty successful guys.
"I think I’m a combination of Roy Jones Jr, Bernard Hopkins and Floyd Mayweather. That may sound arrogant, but those are the guys I really studied and that’s who I have in my style - and obviously Andre Ward.
"It’s like my style mixed in with all of those guys. I can fight inside, I can get rough, I can be flashy and do certain things when I need to, I can be very systematic like Floyd and break a guy down.
"I’ve taken stuff from all three of those guys, but at the same time, be true to who I am and be myself if that makes sense."
Ward really broke out during the Super Six World Boxing Classic in 2009. This was a tournament hosted by broadcaster Showtime for the super-middleweight division where the winner would claim all of the unified WBA (Super title), WBC and The Ring Super Middleweight titles.
S.O.G had a lot of hype heading into the tournament, but he hadn’t fought anyone of note and many felt Mikkel Kessler - his opponent in the first round - was the tougher, more durable fighter.
Ward destroyed him. He roughed up Kessler to the point the Dane’s team claimed Ward fought dirty - it was just a comprehensive beating.
From there, Ward’s name was taken seriously. He scored unanimous decisions over the big-punching Allan Green and then former world champion Arthur Abraham to book his place in the final against Carl Froch.
Ward finished his career with 16 knockouts in his 32 victories, but Froch had 20 knockouts and a record of 28-1 by the time they met. ‘The Cobra’ was by far the more spiteful puncher, but Ward was silky and smart enough put the pressure on the Brit.
Ward landed 243 of 573 punches thrown (42 per cent), whilst Froch landed 156 of 683 punches (23 per cent), clear evidence that Ward was far more efficient in his work on the night.
Once Ward recovered from the broken hand he sustained in the victory over Froch, he decided to defend his titles against The Ring and the lineal light-heavyweight champion, Chad Dawson.
It was billed as champion versus champion and Dawson was dropping down to 168lbs to challenge for his belts. He had been a super-middleweight at the start of his career, but hadn’t fought at that weight in six years.
Ward, though, put in another dominating display against a world champion fighter. He dropped Dawson twice before finally dropping him for a third time in the tenth round causing Dawson to tell the referee: "It's over. I'm finished. I'm done."
Ward won every round of that fight with Dawson according to the judges.
With super-middleweight pretty much cleared out, Ward decided to move up to light-heavyweight and bagged a few victories before taking on IBF, WBA (Super) and WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev.
This was looked at as a genuine super fight between two unbeaten world champions. Both fights sadly ended in controversy that served to undermine the headline that Ward was the victor of both.
The first saw Ward win a unanimous decision 114-113 across the board. Ward was knocked down early in the fight and Kovalev landed more punches, but Ward secured the decision.
The second fight ended with a TKO in the eighth round after a right hand from Ward put Kovalev in a world of trouble. The American followed the punch up with numerous body shots that had Kovalev recoiling in pain and the referee called it.
Kovalev suggested afterwards it shouldn’t have been stopped, but the history books show Ward emerged the victor and moved to 33-0.
In 2017, the same year as his second fight with Kovalev, Ward announced he was retiring from boxing at 33. Two years earlier he had already made his acting debut in the Creed film series, but he hung up his gloves in 2017 stating his body couldn’t perform at the same level anymore.
Ward portrayed Danny ‘Stuntman’ Wheeler again in Creed II and was knocked out by the main character, Adonis, to lose his heavyweight title.
What’s Ward’s legacy? For James DeGale, he was a 'genius' in the ring, who had a fantastic career.
“For me personally, he was the best pound-for-pound in the world," the Brit said.
He was a winner, no question about it. But is he underappreciated?
“He was under looked and everybody expected this big blast when he came to the pro game and it really wasn’t a big blast and people started to really doubt what he could do,” former welterweight world champion, Shawn Porter, said.
“But after he won the super middleweight tournament, people started to recognise who he was. He went virtually his entire life without losing any matches.”
Many were surprised with how young Ward retired and it was suggested he had left a lot on the table. Now 37, Ward hasn’t shown much interest in changing his mind.
Upon hearing about Ward's retirement, former foe Froch couldn't resist a dig.
"I won't be sad to see the back of him. It's not sour grapes. I know he beat me, but I never really got that excited when he boxed.
"Andre Ward used to nullify his opponent and don't get me wrong, he's a class act, he knows what he's doing and he knows how to win.
"I think he's unbeaten since he was 12 years old, or something ridiculous.
"He's retired at the top and not everyone gets to do that. I retired at the top and sometimes it's the best way to go out."
There was brief talk about the pair fighting in 2020, but Froch, now in his forties, had no desire to face a well-rested Ward in his mid-thirties.
Nothing has tempted Ward out of retirement so far and it seems like nothing will.
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His pristine records remain, the only question marks that linger remain in the criticism he had from Froch and many others regarding his excitement in the ring.
The Kovalev fights didn't draw many people. The first drew just 165,000 buys and then the second fight drew 130,000 buys and neither bouts completely sold out their arenas either, although the second fight was very close.
Much like Mayweather, Ward's style was about suppressing his opponent's strengths and nullifying their best assets.
Granted, he wasn't a particularly exciting, knockout puncher like Mike Tyson but from a technical standpoint, the actual art of boxing, nobody could touch him.
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