Comments Thread For: Andre Ward Announces His Retirement From Boxing

[-DSG-]

Well I can respectfully disagree. I am pretty sure he's going into the HOF and is happy with what's he's accomplished. He deserves it in my opinion. You're obviously entitled to yours.

I'm sure he'll get in as well maybe not right away. The HOF lost credibility when they let Gatti in.

[Szef]

Don't let the door hit you on the way out.

[Xi_]

He might have won on paper, thanks to the officials and ref... but he felt Kovalev’s shots in both fights, and they broke his body and will when he heard that Kovalev considers them even 1-1 and wanted a third fight haha.




“I am leaving because my body can no longer put up with the rigors of the sport and therefore my desire to fight is no longer there...”








...

damn.......im not gonna lie this sucks.

[Willy Wanker]

Props, he was the best of his era

Agreed, Ward was hands down the best p4p fighter of his era, 2016-2017.

[TyrantT316]

I'm sure he'll get in as well maybe not right away. The HOF lost credibility when they let Gatti in.

That I agree with. While Gatti's induction has no absolutely bearing on Ward's induction because their career couldn't be further apart and Ward's bar is higher, the HOF did lose credibility from a Boxing accomplishment POV. I am hoping he's simply a one-off case of an adored action fighter who lost his life and that was their way of paying tribute.

[Mr.Fantastic]

Honestly boxing won't miss the guy at all. He was only entertaining in the Kovalev fights. Other than that his style is not the best. I respect what he did. The guy is a hall of famer no doubt.

Entertaining? He got outboxed most of the rounds and needed low blows to win the rematch. The only entertaining thing that makes it for people is how he has the "W" over a white guy from Russia.

[j0zef]

That's disappointing. He was just starting to look really good and had his best performance. He's only 34 too. Could have cleaned up LHW and built a good legacy.

[TyrantT316]

Foreman being Moorer is an accomplishment that further cemented his place in history. He was outboxed the whole fight before that punch. But is remembered as having won the HW title and adding to his legacy.

Ward may not be some ATG, but he was one of the best fighters of his generation and deserves the HOF even if it isn't first ballot (which I have no problem with).

Ultimately, the fighters fight and someone walks out a winner. Ward walked out the winner vs Kov then stopped him in the rematch.

[chrisJS]

I guess HBO/Roc didn't care about giving him another contract and he even tried to whore himself out to ESPN and Top Rank and obviously they didn't care to promote/didn't over value him like HBO/ROC so didn't have what it takes to try his hand at Cruiserweight (where there's a major tournament winner waiting) or against a strong generation of light heavies coming from.

Boring fighter, very dirty and ugly style despite having a very good talent level and ring IQ. I don't think he should make HOF but wouldn't complain since there's less deserving guys in there. The Kovalev fights leave a bitter taste to the neutral because he lost the first and even the re-match was losing and then had to resort to low blows and a gift stoppage. He really should have proven himself further because outside of fanboys those fights didn't really reflect well on Ward.

[Pigeons]

Very sudden and confusing. He's accomplished a lot, but there was so much left to achieve. I guess he did talk about retirement before the Kovalev rematch.

If he stays retired, it's weird that Mayweather and Ward ended up retiring in the same year. Ward's career feels like 5 years old compared to Mayweather's.