Andre
Michael Ward (born February 23, 1984) is an American former professional
boxer who competed from 2004 to 2001. He retired with an undefeated
record and held multiple world titles in two weight classes, including
the unified WBA (Super), WBC, Ring magazine, and lineal super middleweight
titles between 2009 and 2015; and the unified WBA (Undisputed), IBG,
WBO, and Ring light heavyweight titles between 2016 and 2017. During
his reign as light heavyweight champion, Ward was ranked s the world's
best active boxer, pound for pound, by The Ring magazine and Transnational
Boxing Rankings Board (TBRB), as well as the world's best active boxer
in the division by The Ring, the TBRB, and BoxRec. As of January 2022,
Box Rec ranks Ward as the twelfth greatest fighter of all time, pound
for pound.
As an amateur, Ward won a gold medal in the light
heavyweight division at the 2004 Olympics and turned professional
later that year. He rose to worldwide prominence upon entering the
Super Six World Boxing Classic tournament in 2009, where he won the
WBA (Super) super middleweight title from Mikkel Kessler in the opening
group stage. In 2011, Ward defeated WBC champion Carl Froch in the
tournament final to unify the titles, as well as winning the vacant
Ring and lineal titles. That same year, Ward was named Fighter of
the Year by the Ring and the Boxing Writer's Association of America.
He later won The Ring's Comeback of the Year award in 2016 following
a long period of sporadic in-ring activity between 2012 and 2015.
Ward was inducted into the international Boxing Hall of Fame as part
of the Class of 2021 his first year of eligibility.
In January 2010 Jermain Taylor announced his exit from Showtime's
Super Six World Boxing Classic tournament. The Ring Top 10 ranked
super-middleweight Allen Green (25-1, 18 KOs) was selected as his
replacement and challenged Andre Ward on June 19. Ward, defending
the WBA super middleweight title, outclassed an opponent who spent
most of the fight with his back against the ropes. Ward defeated Green
by unanimous decision on June 19, 2010. Though the 30-year-old gamely
fought on, the knockout he needed to win never appeared remotely likely
and he looked a spent man by the end as he picked up the second loss
of his 31fight pro career. Throughout the fight, Ward out landed Green
by nearly 200 punches. All three judges scored the fight lop-sided
120-108 for Ward, who said post-fight of his win, "This means a lot
to me. Couldn't get caught up in the first defense too much mentally.
Now that it's over with, I'm ecstatic I was able to defend this belt
one time. I feel like a real champion now." Ward stated his only regret
was that he wasn't able to stop Green, who turned up to survive. Ward
advanced to the semi-finals.
Ward was exempt from the final preliminary
fight in the Super Six because he had already secured a number one
position in the elimination rounds and his designated opponent (Andre
Dirrell) had dropped out of the tournament. Dirrell's trainer and
uncle Leon Lawson Jr., told ESPN that Dirrell had neurological problems.
Instead, Ward successfully defended his WBA super middleweight title,
unanimously outpointing another top 10 ranked super middleweight,
Sakio Bika (28-4-2), in front of a sparse crowd at Oracle Arena on
Saturday night. Fighting in front of his hometown crowd as part of
a dual-site co-main event, Ward didn't land many big shots but repeatedly
hit Bika with a stinging left jab that the challenger was unable to
counter. Ward won all 12 rounds on one judges scorecard and was ahead
118-110 on the other two. Bika landed 201 of the 612 punches (33%),
but Ward was more precise with his shot's landing 235 of 398 (59%).
Ward later admitted it was his toughest fight to date, since he became
professional.