Andre Ward

Andre Ward
Data
Birth Name	Andre Michael Ward
Weight class	Super middleweight, light heavyweight
nationality	US-american
birthday	February 23, 1984
place of birth	San Francisco
style	Left delivery
size	1.83 m
Combat Statistics
Struggles	32
Victories	32
Knockout victories	16
Defeats	0
Profile in the BoxRec database

Andre Ward (born February 23, 1984 in San Francisco , California , United States ) is a former American professional boxer. As an amateur, Ward won the gold medal in the light heavyweight division at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens , making him the last male boxer from the United States to achieve Olympic gold (as of 2020).

From 2004 to 2017 he boxed as a professional and became world champion of the WBA and WBC in super middleweight , as well as world champion of the WBA , IBF and WBO in light heavyweight . In 2011 he won the Super Six World Boxing Classic tournament . From March 2017 until his retirement in September 2017, Ring Magazine named him the best boxer regardless of weight class .

Amateur career

Andre Ward started boxing at the age of nine and as an amateur has had 114 (115 in some sources) wins with just 5 losses. He suffered his last defeat in 1998. He won, among other things, the US middleweight championships in 2001 and the US light heavyweight championships in 2004, where he also defeated the later successful professionals Lajuan Simon and Curtis Stevens .

Also in 2004 he won the US Olympic elimination and remained unbeaten in the American qualification in Mexico . At the Olympic Games in Athens, he defeated the Italian Clemente Russo (17: 9), world champion from 2007 and 2013, and Olympic silver medalist from 2008 and 2012 in the second round . In the quarter-finals, he defeated the Russian favorite Yevgeny Makarenko (23:16), World champion from 2001 and 2003. In the semi-final fight he prevailed against the Uzbek Oʻtkirbek Haydarov (17:15), who had become world champion in 1999 and vice world champion in 2001. He was the only US boxer to reach the final, where he defeated the Belarusian vice world champion of 2003, Mahamed Aryphadschyjeu (20:13), and thus became Olympic champion.

Professional career

Andre Ward switched to the professional field in 2004 and was promoted by Goossen Tutor Promotions, Antonio Leonard Promotions and Roc Nation Sports, as well as managed by James Prince and trained by Virgil Hunter .

Before his first chance at the World Cup, he won 20 development fights, 14 of them prematurely, and also beat boxers with positive records like Roger Cantrell (12-0) and Rubin Williams (29-3). He suffered his first knockdown as a professional against Darnell Boone in 2005, but won the fight by unanimous decision. In 2008 and 2009, respectively, he secured the North American titles of NABO and NABF , which Jean Pascal had laid down, and which he defended unanimously on points against Edison Miranda in May 2009 .

On November 21, 2009 he won in the Oracle Arena of Oakland early in the eleventh round against Mikkel Kessler and thus secured the WBA world title in super middleweight. Ward dominated the duel with his speed and his jab , was clearly in the lead on all three point slips and inflicted a severe cut injury to Kessler's left eye. After a collision with the heads, the fight was finally ended in the penultimate round and Ward declared the winner after evaluating the points. He had clearly beaten the Dane, who was ranked number 1 in the world by Ring Magazine, although he was only listed in 9th place. It was also Ward's first fight in the Super Six World Boxing Classic tournament .

He won his second tournament fight on June 19, 2010 in the Oracle Arena unanimously against Allan Green , who had replaced Jermain Taylor, who had left the tournament . In his next duel he should have met his Olympic team colleague Andre Dirrell , who, however, could no longer participate in the tournament due to an injury. Ward then boxed on November 27, 2010 in the Oracle Arena in a non-tournament WBA title defense against Sakio Bika and won again unanimously on points.

On May 14, 2011 he won in the Home Depot Center of Carson by far superior on points against the German Arthur Abraham and thus moved into the tournament final, which he unanimously against the British WBC World Champion on December 17, 2011 in the Boardwalk Hall of Atlantic City Carl Froch won. Ward thus secured the WBC title of his opponent and the tournament victory as the best super middleweight in the world, and he also defended his WBA title for the fourth time. For 2011 he was named Boxer of the Year by ESPN , BWAA , Ring Magazine and Sports Illustrated , among others .

On September 8, 2012 Ward won in the Oracle Arena by TKO in the tenth round against Chad Dawson , who at that time held the WBC light heavyweight title and was relegated to super middleweight for this fight. In April 2013 Ward was stripped of the title by the WBC because he did not play a fight until November 2013 due to a hand injury. However, he was declared a "Champion in Recess" by the association, which would have given him the opportunity of an immediate title fight when he returned to the ring.

Ward got back into the ring on November 16, 2013 at the Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario, California, and defeated the undefeated Edwin Rodriguez (24-0) by unanimous decision on points. Due to a legal dispute with his promoter Dan Goossen, he did not contest a fight in 2014.

On June 20, 2015 Ward defeated the British Paul Smith , who was above the weight limit, by TKO in the ninth round and resigned his WBA title in November 2015 because he had decided to switch to light heavyweight. In the new weight class, he defeated the undefeated Cuban Sullivan Barrera and the Colombian Alexander Brand (25-1) in 2016 , which qualified him for a world championship fight.

On November 19, 2016, he met the undefeated Russian WBA / WBO / IBF title holder Sergei Kowaljow in the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and defeated him unanimously on points, but was once on the ground in the second round. On June 17, 2017, there was a rematch for the title at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, with Ward, leading on points, prevailing through TKO in the eighth round. However, the referee's cancellation was controversial.

On September 21, 2017, Ward announced his retirement. His reason was: "I quit because my body can no longer cope with the rigors of the sport and therefore I no longer have any cravings."

successes

• Amateur record: 114 wins - 5 losses
• Professional balance: 32 wins - 0 losses

• 2001: American amateur middleweight champion
• 2003: American amateur light heavyweight champion
• 2004: Olympic light heavyweight champion

• June 20, 2008: North American Super Middleweight Champion of the WBO (2 title defenses)
• February 6, 2009: NABF North American Super Middleweight Champion (1 title defense)
• November 21, 2009: WBA World Champion in super middleweight division (6 title defenses)
• December 17, 2011: WBC world champion in super middleweight (1 title defense) and overall victory of the " Super Six World Boxing Classic " tournament
• August 6, 2016: WBO international light heavyweight champion
• November 19, 2016: WBA, IBF and WBO world light heavyweight champions

List of professional fights

32 wins (16 knockout wins), 0 defeats , 0 draws
year	Day	place	opponent	Result for Ward
2004	December 18th	Staples Center , Los Angeles, USA	Chris Molina	Victory / TKO 2nd round
2005	February 10th	Palace Indian Gaming Center, Lemoore, USA	Kenny Kost	Points victory (unanimous) / 6 rounds
	7th of April	Pechenga Resort & Casino, Temecula, USA	Roy Ashworth	Victory / disqualification 3rd round
	18th of June	FedEx Forum, Memphis, Tennessee, USA	Ben Aragon	Victory / TKO 3rd round
	18th of August	HP Pavilion at San José, San José (California), USA	Christopher Holt	Victory / abandonment 3rd round
	October 1	Tampa Bay Times Forum , Tampa (Florida), USA	Glenn LaPlante	Victory / KO 1st round
	November 19th	Rose Garden Arena , Portland, Oregon, USA	Darnell Boone	Points victory (unanimous) / 6 rounds
2006	February 23	Tachi Palace Hotel & Casino, Lemoore, USA	Kendall Gould	Points victory (unanimous) / 6 rounds
	April 29	Foxwoods Resort, Connecticut, United States	Andy Kolle	Victory / abandonment 6th round
	November 16	HP Pavilion at San José, San José (California), USA	Derrick Findley	Points victory (unanimous) / 6 rounds
2007	March 29	HP Pavilion at San José, San José (California), USA	Julio Jean	Victory / TKO 3rd round
	17th of May	Tachi Palace Hotel & Casino, Lemoore, USA	Dhafir Smith	Victory / TKO 6th round
	July 14th	Home Depot Center , Carson, California, USA	Francisco Diaz	Victory / TKO 3rd round
	November 16	Beausejour Cricket Ground, Gros Islet, St. Lucia	Roger Cantrell	Victory / TKO 5th round
2008	March, 20th	HP Pavilion at San José, San José (California), USA	Rubin Williams	Victory / TKO 7th round
	20th June	Royal Watler Cruise Terminal, George Town (Cayman Islands), Cayman Islands	Jerson Ravelo WBO NABO Super Middleweight Championship	Victory / TKO 8th round
	13th December	Morongo Casino Resort & Spa, Cabazon, USA	Esteban Camou	Victory / TKO 3rd round
2009	February 6th	Tachi Palace Hotel & Casino, Lemoore, USA	Henry Buchanan WBO NABO Super Middleweight Title Defense Vacant NABF Super Middleweight Championship	Points victory (unanimous) / 12 rounds
	May 16	Oracle Arena , Oakland, California, USA	Edison Miranda WBO-NABO Super Middleweight Title Defense NABF Super Middleweight Title Defense	Points victory (unanimous) / 12 rounds
	12th September	Pechenga Resort & Casino, Temecula, USA	Shelby Pudwill	Victory / KO 3rd round
	21st November	Oracle Arena , Oakland, California, USA	Mikkel Kessler WBA World Super Middleweight Championship	Points victory (technical decision) / 11 laps
2010	June 19th	Oracle Arena , Oakland, California, USA	Allan Green WBA Super Middleweight Title Defense	Points victory (unanimous) / 12 rounds
	November 27th	Oracle Arena , Oakland, California, USA	Sakio Bika WBA Super Middleweight Title Defense	Points victory (unanimous) / 12 rounds
2011	May 14th	Home Depot Center , Los Angeles, USA	Arthur Abraham WBA super middleweight title defense	Points victory (unanimous) / 12 rounds
	December 17th	Boardwalk Hall , Atlantic City (New Jersey), USA	Carl Froch WBA / WBC Super Middleweight Title Association	Points victory (unanimous) / 12 rounds
2012	September 8th	Oracle Arena , Oakland, California, USA	Chad Dawson WBA / WBC Super Middleweight Title Defense	Victory / TKO 10th round
2013	November 16	Citizens Business Bank Arena, Ontario, California, USA	Edwin Rodriguez WBA Super Middleweight Title Defense	Points victory (unanimous) / 12 rounds
2015	20th June	Oracle Arena , Oakland, California, USA	Paul Smith	Victory / TKO 9th round
2016	26th of March	Oracle Arena , Oakland, California, USA	Sullivan Barrera	Points victory (unanimous) / 12 rounds
	6th of August	Oracle Arena , Oakland, California, USA	Alexander Brand WBO International Light Heavyweight Championship	Points victory (unanimous) / 12 rounds
	November 19th	T-Mobile Arena , Las Vegas (Nevada), USA	Sergei Kovalyov IBF / WBA / WBO World Light Heavyweight Championship	Points victory (unanimous) / 12 rounds
2017	17th of June	Mandalay Bay Events Center , Paradise, Nevada, USA	Sergei Kovalev IBF / WBA / WBO light heavyweight title defense	Victory / TKO 8th round
(Source: Andre Ward in the BoxRec database)

Web links

• Andre Ward in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Andre Ward in the BoxRec Encyclopaedia
• Andre Ward in the BoxRec database
• Boxing results on Sport-komplett.de

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Andre Ward at BoxRec
2. ↑ Andre Ward's Historical Run at Bleacher Report
3. ↑ Andre Ward at ProBoxing
4. ↑ Controversial end at World Boxing Championships: Ward defeated Kowaljow with low blows . In: Spiegel Online . June 18, 2017 ( spiegel.de [accessed September 22, 2017]).
5. ^ Perform Media Deutschland GmbH: Andre Ward ends his boxing career . September 21, 2017 ( spox.com [accessed September 22, 2017]).

predecessor	Office	successor
Mikkel Kessler	World Super Middleweight Boxing Champion ( WBA ) November 21, 2009 - November 10, 2015	Fyodor Chudinov
Carl Froch	Super Middleweight Boxing Champion ( WBC ) December 17, 2011 - April 11, 2013	Sakio Bika
Sergei Kovalev	Light Heavyweight Boxing Champion ( WBO ) November 19, 2016 - October 11, 2017	Sergei Kovalev
Sergei Kovalev	Light Heavyweight Boxing Champion ( WBA ) November 19, 2016 - October 2017	-
Sergei Kovalev	Light Heavyweight Boxing Champion ( IBF ) November 19, 2016 - September 28, 2017	Artur Beterbiev