Andre Michael Ward (born February 23, 1984) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 2004 to 2017. He retired with an undefeated record and held multiple world championships in two weight classes, including unified super middleweight titles between 2009 and 2015, and unified light heavyweight titles between 2016 and 2017.
During his reign as light heavyweight champion, Ward was ranked as the world's best active boxer, pound for pound, by The Ring magazine and the 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, BoxRec ranks Ward as the twelfth greatest boxer of all time, pound for pound.
As an amateur boxer, Ward won the light heavyweight gold medal 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 World Boxing Association (WBA) super middleweight title (Super version) from Mikkel Kessler in the opening group stage. In 2011, Ward defeated World Boxing Council (WBC) champion Carl Froch in the tournament final to unify the titles, as well as winning the vacant Ring magazine and lineal titles. That same year, Ward was named Fighter of the Year by The Ring and the Boxing Writers' Association of America.
In 2016, following a long period of sporadic in-ring activity, Ward moved up to light heavyweight and won the WBA (Undisputed version), International Boxing Federation (IBF) and World Boxing Organization (WBO) titles from then-undefeated Sergey Kovalev. This earned Ward the Comeback of the Year award by The Ring. He successfully defended his titles in a rematch against Kovalev a year later, after which he retired from boxing. Ward was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2021, his first year of eligibility.
Early life
Andre was born in San Francisco, California, the son of Frank Ward, an Irish American and Madeline Arvie Taylor an African American. Andre's career started when his father took him to U.S. Karate School of the Arts, a boxing gym in Hayward, California, when he was nine years old. After his parents fell to drug abuse, Ward was looked after by his godfather, Virgil Hunter, who became his trainer and remained his trainer for the length of his career.
He attended Hayward High School.
Amateur career
Ward started boxing in 1994. In 2002, he won the Under 19 National Championship and was also a two time U.S. National Champion in 2001 and 2003 at middleweight. Ward finished his amateur career with a record of 115 wins and 5 losses.
Amateur highlights
2001 United States Amateur Middleweight Champion
2002 Under 19 National Championship
2003 United States Amateur Light Heavyweight Champion
Won the Light Heavyweight gold medal for the United States at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece becoming the first American boxer to capture gold in 8 years.
Results
1st round – Second Place at the 1st AIBA American 2004 Olympic Qualifying Tournament 2nd round – Defeated Clemente Russo (Italy) 17–9 Quarterfinals – Defeated Evgeny Makarenko (Russia) 23–16 Semifinals – Defeated Utkirbek Haydarov (Uzbekistan) 17–15 Gold Medal Match – Defeated Magomed Aripgadjiev (Belarus) 20–13
Professional career
Super middleweight
Early years
Ward made his pro debut on December 18, 2004, by scoring a second round TKO over Chris Molina. On February 5, 2005, Ward fought in his second pro fight against Kenny Kost. Ward overcame a rocky second round, in which he was hurt by a left hook, to win by unanimous decision. Ward defeated Roy Ashworth on April 7, 2005, by disqualification.
Ward won his next three fights, all by knockout, before going up against Darnell Boone on November 19, 2005. Ward was knocked down for the first time in his career in round four. Despite the knockdown, Ward went on to win by unanimous decision.
After the fight with Boone, Ward went on to win his next six fights, including TKO victories over undefeated Andy Kolle (this fight was the last of five that Ward fought within the middleweight limit of 160 lbs) and Francisco Diaz. On November 16, 2007, Ward beat undefeated Roger Cantrell by fifth-round TKO in Saint Lucia.