Andre Ward officially retires

[imaioral]

Sad news IMO, I like him, watching him schooling opponents and showing superb technical boxing skills. A gold medallist as a boxer and a person, I admire Ward. SMW loses one of top10 of all times in class (because at LHW we can't consider much since he dominated SMW).

* If will say sh.it keep for yourself thats' MY opinion and period.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/b ... 689986001/

https://www.badlefthook.com/2017/9/21/1 ... rom-boxing

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/ ... retirement

[gilgamesh]

Saying Andre Ward is a Top 10 Super Middleweight is underselling it. He's probably #1. It's either him or Calzaghe, and personally I'd go with Ward. Never was a fan of the guy, but I don't let that affect my judgment of a guy's achievements and career. Ward had an excellent run at Super Middleweight.

[imaioral]

It's either him or Calzaghe ... Ward had an excellent run at Super Middleweight.

Totally agreed.

[Heretic]

Good riddance

[Ossyrules]

Saying Andre Ward is a Top 10 Super Middleweight is underselling it. He's probably #1. It's either him or Calzaghe, and personally I'd go with Ward. Never was a fan of the guy, but I don't let that affect my judgment of a guy's achievements and career. Ward had an excellent run at Super Middleweight.

Agree except would have him number 2 behind Calzaghe at 168

[gilgamesh]

Saying Andre Ward is a Top 10 Super Middleweight is underselling it. He's probably #1. It's either him or Calzaghe, and personally I'd go with Ward. Never was a fan of the guy, but I don't let that affect my judgment of a guy's achievements and career. Ward had an excellent run at Super Middleweight.

Agree except would have him number 2 behind Calzaghe at 168

He's #1 for me over Calzaghe, but it's definitely debatable.

Ward has wins over Kessler, Froch, Bika, Arthur Abraham and Chad Dawson as a Super Middleweight.

Calzaghe has wins over Kessler, Jeff Lacy, Sakio Bika, Charles Brewer and an aging Chris Eubank.

They're definitely very close, but I thought Ward was just a hair better, and didn't d*ck around so long before fighting and beating serious opposition. Calzaghe waiting until he was damn near retired from the sport to start fighting big name fighters. Ward was fighting big names significantly earlier in his career than Calzaghe did.

It's splitting hairs really though. They're close, what nicks it for Ward in my favor is I figure he'd beat Calzaghe if they were to fight each other both in their primes, but of course that's just speculation.

[candyslim]

Sorry to hear it. I applaud his decision to go out at the top but as a boxing fan I feel sad to lose any fighter who's a contender for pound for pound number one, before it looks like he really should hang 'em up. Bitter-sweet.

[Blodhemn]

One less dirty boxer getting gifts. The only thing likable about Ward was his will to win.

[Ossyrules]

Saying Andre Ward is a Top 10 Super Middleweight is underselling it. He's probably #1. It's either him or Calzaghe, and personally I'd go with Ward. Never was a fan of the guy, but I don't let that affect my judgment of a guy's achievements and career. Ward had an excellent run at Super Middleweight.

Agree except would have him number 2 behind Calzaghe at 168

He's #1 for me over Calzaghe, but it's definitely debatable.

Ward has wins over Kessler, Froch, Bika, Arthur Abraham and Chad Dawson as a Super Middleweight.

Calzaghe has wins over Kessler, Jeff Lacy, Sakio Bika, Charles Brewer and an aging Chris Eubank.

They're definitely very close, but I thought Ward was just a hair better, and didn't d*ck around so long before fighting and beating serious opposition. Calzaghe waiting until he was damn near retired from the sport to start fighting big name fighters. Ward was fighting big names significantly earlier in his career than Calzaghe did.

It's splitting hairs really though. They're close, what nicks it for Ward in my favor is I figure he'd beat Calzaghe if they were to fight each other both in their primes, but of course that's just speculation.

I won't argue with those who pick ward, he has a strong case and the 2 of them are clearly 1 and 2 division historically and it's close. I can't put Roy there despite his tremendous performance vs Toney as 1 fight can't be compared to a career at the weight.

I'll make a minor point to your arguement for ward though, Dawson fight was a light heavyweight catch weight fight wasn't it? Also you say ageing eubank, but with the exception of Froch most of the names for ward were fairly battle worn. However if it did come down to who beat who, what a fantastic fight that would be. Ward has a good case as the 2 SD of Calzaghe career came against spoilers also, so you have to say ward may have the style. On the flip side I don't see ward having the lunch to deter Calzaghe, who was a unique problem. Could ward keep of the guy who keeps throwing punches, and in bunches as well. Prior to Calzaghe destroying his hands he could dig as well.

[gilgamesh]

Dawson came down to 168 for his fight with Ward. It wasn't a catchweight. It was a Super Middleweight bout.

Now obviously this turned out to be a very bad move for Dawson as he has basically looked like sh*t ever since for the remainder of his career.

[northern]

The man picked when he retired, not many can do that and you can't fault him going out while he is still a champion and having beaten some of the best along the way.

Well done to him and hope he enjoys a well earned retirement, whatever he does past this point.

[montrealsuper]

Ward is a great fighter but there is no demand to see him fight. There is no network willing to invest millions in him. He has no options. Stevenson is a protected fraud. Ward has probably most likely fake retired and is hoping this hiatus will inspire a demand to see him fight in a year or so, probably a third go with Kovalev.

[RScarf1]

I think Ward stays retired. If he was so great, then HBO would have renewed their contract with him. Max Kellerman says he is pound for pound number one after the Kovalev rematch. Do you really think he believes that BS? Ward's skills were in decline the last few years. That's why he had to cheat to get wins. The whole notion of him being the best boxer is a farce. How could he be better than he was in his prime when he defeated Froch? The answer is he isn't and he had to retire because his fighting tactics would be more scrutinized if he continued with his career.

[lazboy]

A wildcard nightmare to fight. A tremendous will to win. Can’t say I’m a fan of his style although it must be acknowledged, anyone has a tough time beating him.

[Enlightened-One]

If he was so great, then HBO would have renewed their contract with him.

HBO no longer invests heavily in the sport of boxing. They chose to let talents like Manny Pacquiao (a PPV draw), Vasyl Lomachenko and Terence Crawford go to another network.

As far as I'm concerned, they haven't attempted to build the next generation of boxing stars. Their presence in the sport has diminished, they've reduced their boxing budget significantly and they have also allowed Showtime to overtake them in the US.

Therefore, your comment about HBO allowing Ward's contract to expire is a tad irrelevant.

[RScarf1]

If he was so great, then HBO would have renewed their contract with him.

HBO no longer invests heavily in the sport of boxing. They chose to let talents like Manny Pacquiao (a PPV draw), Vasyl Lomachenko and Terence Crawford go to another network.

As far as I'm concerned, they haven't attempted to build the next generation of boxing stars. Their presence in the sport has diminished, they've reduced their boxing budget significantly and they have also allowed Showtime to overtake them in the US.

Therefore, your comment about HBO allowing Ward's contract to expire is a tad irrelevant.

I think it still speaks volumes. HBO stated that he is the number one pound for pound boxer in the world. They kept trying to push that narrative. If they were not planning on keeping him as a boxer, I guess they want him to be a regular commentator.

[Lackeos]

Feels kind of like a premature retirement to me, given that he's relatively young, hasn't been in any serious wars, hasn't suffered any serious injuries that I know of, his abilities don't seem to be diminishing at all, and his drawing power isn't in decline. His retirement doesn't seem to meet any of the usual criteria for deciding when to retire, other than the fact that he can't significantly improve on his legacy with any additional wins. Oh, also, he only fights like once every 2 years, so it's not like there's a lot of wear on the tires.

[Kalan]

Good riddance

Ditto... Boxing is done with this dirty, cheating bastard.

He's a coward. There's tons of great Light Heavyweights coming up and he didn't want them. He lost the first Kovalev fight and was allowed to throw limitless low blows in the rematch. He was down on most observers' cards when he bent over from an egregiously low blow and Weeks handed him another gift win.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

Good riddance

Ditto... Boxing is done with this dirty, cheating bastard.

He's a coward. There's tons of great Light Heavyweights coming up and he didn't want them. He lost the first Kovalev fight and was allowed to throw limitless low blows in the rematch. He was down on most observers' cards when he bent over from an egregiously low blow and Weeks handed him another gift win.

What made you so superior to bums like hearns, Armstrong, Robinson and Ali?

[Badhusker]

Wow, still a lot of butt hurt boxing fans. Anyone that can retire while having a strong argument for being a top pfp guy, especially at an upper weight, is impressive.

[boxing_rocks]

https://twitter.com/steveucnlive/status ... 8297672705

[punchoutsb]

I'm very glad to hear it.

I never liked watching Ward fight, but that's not why I'm glad. I'm glad because Ward was smart enough to walk away from the sport with his health. I hope more fighters follow suit and don't try to milk every remaining brain cell after reaching their personal pinnacles.

[Perseus]

If he sticks with the retirement good for him but I expect to see him fighting in the future. Late 2018/early 2019.

[Evander]

Don't know him, haven't personally met him but seen him box ... Andre Ward strikes me as good man I wish him the best.
Smart boxer, understands styles, opponents, approach and many other aspects that go into making a successful athlete.
Going forward ... he's a first class analyst and resembles RJJ on TV in terms of his savvy, he's switched on.
The announcement did surprise me for a number of reasons but all good on the man Andre is alright.

[FastestHandsInThewest]

Kind of early but can't blame him he's made 14 million.