BoxRec

I'm just looking through his record, he was certainly chucked in at the deep end quickly. Fought a 14-0 fighter to a draw in his 3rd pro fight, beat Mac Foster who was 30-5 in his 7th fight, then beat Jeff Merritt (23-2) in his 8th fight, dropped a MD to Ron Lyle (33-5-1) in his 11th fight and then beat Mike Weaver (14-6) in his 12th fight.

Anyone know much about him?

I was a fan as a kid, but that was from the magazines. His fights weren't televised.

SaadOffTheDeck wrote:I was a fan as a kid, but that was from the magazines. His fights weren't televised.

On his website....

In 1974, Coach served as a sparring partner for George Forman in Zaire, as he prepared for the “Rumble in the Jungle,” against Muhammad Ali. In 1975, Coach was in camp to spar with Joe Frazier as he was preparing for his fight against Ali, in what many people call the greatest heavyweight fight ever, the “Thrilla in Manila.”

Interview with Stan about his time sparring Frazier

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHNzE7WQ55g

And surprisingly says Frazier hit harder than Foreman !!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gukXgJIexbg

SaadOffTheDeck wrote:I was a fan as a kid, but that was from the magazines. His fights weren't televised.

His fight with Greg Page

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOv-kj08EJA

and Gerrie Coetzee

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6UaXLk4Tk8

I also followed Ward's career quite closely back in the day myself.
He was a wide, thick, tough heavyweight with underrated skills & had he had the proper backing behind him it's likely that he'd have done somewhat better than he did. Still, he had some decent wins early on in his career & may have earned himself a title fight had things gone just a wee bit better for him.
Such as his L10 to then-top five contender Ron Lyle in September of '77.
I had him winning a close nod over Lyle, but unfortunately for him, the judges saw it the other way.
Then after splitting a pair of bouts with future WBA champ Mike Weaver, he lost a close one to the small, but slick contender Randy Stephens. After which, stoppage losses to future 'BA Champs Greg Page & Gerrie Coetzee seemed to relegate him more or less to journeyman status for the remainder of his career.

Interesting sidenote on Ward was that Shane Mosely's father became enamored with boxing while working out with Ward, which resulted in his training his son to become an eventual all time great, multi-weight class world champion years later.

Ward knocked out Jeff Merritt on the Foreman-LeDoux underscored if my memory serves me well.

I remember his fight with Page back in the day. Although Page outclassed him, I recall one punch in particular. Ward caught Page with a straight right hand counter off the ropes and I swear, every part of Page's body quivered on that shot. Really surprised he didn't go down. But Page did have a good set of whiskers and went on to stop Ward. But to this day I always think, 'what a shot.'

Smart guy. Master's degree, or maybe even PhD.

He' KO'd Jeff Merritt.

I wanted to see what I remembered before reading responses. I will now...