Number 1 pound for pound boxer Andre Ward retires after not losing for 20 years.
I actually feel bad little bit. I have been watching boxing for a long time. I now learn to see beyond the hype a lot more. I understand the sport of boxing and if anyone else does and appreciates it, they will realise the greatness that this man possess. The last boxer from USA to win a gold medal in 2004 in Athens, Greece.
Ward was not amazing to watch for many people, to many he seems boring. But as I said, the ones that appreciate a sweet science will enjoy the grit, the ring intelligence, the heart and the consistency of hard work throughout his career, in and outside of the ring. While we are quick to put fighters like Lomachenko and GGG above this man, lets not forget that this guy is undefeated fighting top fighters on a consistent basis. Carl Froch, Mikkel Kessler, Sergey Kovalev are some of the few great fighters he fought.
This man does not have a single God given ability that we can clearly see. This is unlike most fighters in the pound for pound list. Lomachenko has great physical ability, Mayweather has fast hand and reflex, Pacquiao had fast hand and power, GGG has great power and chin. Despite not having these God gifted ability he still achieve so much. This to me shows that no matter how much more other people might be blessed compared to you, if you keep working hard, stay consistent and be smart, you can achieve greatness. Just look at the picture below, it is so inspirational to me.
His last 2 fights was against Sergey Kovalev Andre Ward who has already done so much in the sport was pressured to move up in weight division and face Kovalev, hoping that Kovalev would stop him. In the first fight he made it to the 12 round, ending in a very close controversial fight. In the rematch however, he stopped him, made Sergey "The Krusher" Kovalev a myth and not so invincible. Andre Ward silenced the doubters in their heart. Below is a highlight of the second fight: