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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 pound for pound boxer, by The Ring magazine. In 2024, ESPN ranked him as the 7th greatest men's boxer of the 21st century.
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 title. 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.
He attended Hayward High School.
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.
At this point, Ward's record was 14 wins, no losses. He was ready to step up to his biggest challenge against big American puncher Allan Green (25–1, 18 KOs), with the fight scheduled to take place on February 2, 2008, on HBO. The fight was called off because Green had an obligation with ESPN to fight Rubin Williams on January 4. Green won the bout, and had hoped to fight Ward later in the year. He eventually got his chance two years later, losing a unanimous decision.
On March 20, 2008, at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California, Ward defeated Rubin Williams by seventh-round TKO. Ward hit Williams with jabs and straight left hands almost at will, opening a bad cut over Williams' left eye in the process. The cut would force the referee to stop the fight.
Ward faced Jerson Ravelo on June 20, 2008, in Georgetown, Cayman Islands, for the vacant regional NABO super-middleweight title. Ward dominated Ravelo for most of the fight en route to a TKO victory in the eighth round.
On May 16, 2009, at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California, Ward defeated former prospect Edison Miranda by unanimous decision. The scores were 116–112, 119–109, and 119–109 for Ward. Ward showed he had an inside game as well as an outside game. Miranda couldn't stay up with Ward's versatility around the ring. Miranda said of Ward in the post fight, "I thought it was going to be easier, but it was tougher than I was expected. I don't feel cheated. Andre is the champion. I have respect for him." Ward, who fought his biggest name to date said, "This is kind of a bittersweet victory. I'm happy and excited because the fans had a good time, and there were a lot of people here, but I'm not 100 percent happy with my performance. I've got to go look at the tape. I did some things well, but I felt I could have improved in other areas."
On September 12, 2009, at the Pechanga Resort and Casino in Temecula, California, Ward defeated Shelby Pudwill by TKO in the 3rd round.
Ward was exempt from the final preliminary fight in the Super Six because he had already secured a number one position in the elimination rounds and his designated opponent (Andre Dirrell) had dropped out of the tournament. Dirrell's trainer and uncle Leon Lawson Jr., told ESPN that Dirrell had Neurology problems. Instead, Ward successfully defended his WBA super middleweight title, unanimously outpointing another top 10 ranked super middleweight, Sakio Bika (28–4–2), in front of a sparse crowd at Oracle Arena on Saturday night. Fighting in front of his hometown crowd as part of a dual-site co-main event, Ward didn't land many big shots but repeatedly hit Bika with a stinging left jab that the challenger was unable to counter. Ward won all 12 rounds on one judges scorecard and was ahead 118–110 on the other two. Bika landed 201 of his 612 punches (33%), but Ward was more precise with his shots, landing 235 of 398 (59%). Ward later admitted it was his toughest fight to date, since he became professional.
In the post fight interviews, Abraham said through a translator, "I started well, and I thought I did good the first three rounds He didn't hit me, and I was blocking a lot of his shots. But then I tried for the knockout, and I couldn't do it. I cramped up, and I got too tense." Ward had to adjust his game plan as he was unable to fight on the inside. He said, "We're going to the final, baby. Arthur is strong, and he's a hard hitter, but we showed that we can win in a way other than our original game plan ... "I wish the ref had let me fight on the inside, because that's what I had planned for. But we made adjustments and got the win."
Ward won the Super Six World Boxing Classic tournament via unanimous decision . Over the first seven rounds, Ward outboxed Froch, successfully using his jab to neutralize Froch and beating Froch to the punch from a distance and at close range. In the later rounds, Ward seemed to take his foot off the gas, leaving Froch to win a couple rounds near the end of the fight, though they were close and fairly competitive rounds. An MRI later revealed that Ward injured his lead left hand on which he relied for landing hooks to Froch's head. The hand was broken in two places. Ward noted extreme pain in the sixth round of the fight as well as one week prior, though the initial X-ray came back clear. The judges scorecards were 115–113, 115–113, and 118–110 all in favor of Ward. CompuBox statistics showed that Ward landed 243 of 573 punches thrown (42%), whilst Froch landed 156 of 683 punches (23%). After the bout, Ward gave a victory speech, "I can't believe it, I can't believe it -- it's not so unbelievable that we never thought we were going to win, but now that it's happened, it is unbelievable. We told you this is what we wanted to do. We wanted to fight on the inside and on the outside, and we pulled it off tonight. We were able to beat him to the punch, and that's what won us the fight." Froch also praised Ward in winning the tournament, "Fair credit to Andre Ward. He's very good defensively. I lost the fight, fair and square. It was quite hard to hit him. The name of the game is to not get hit, and he did that well."
Ward won the vacant Ring with his Super Six World Boxing Classic win against Froch, despite some independent sources rating then-undefeated IBF champion Lucian Bute at number one or two at the time. The fight peaked at 580,000 viewers on Showtime.
The World Boxing Council Board of Governors voted to make Ward "Champion in Recess" due to a broken hand Ward had sustained during the Super Six tournament.
The fight ended in round ten with a technical knockout victory for Ward when Dawson asked the referee for the fight to be ended with the words: "It's over. I'm finished. I'm done." In the first two rounds, Ward and Dawson felt each other out, with neither fighter having much success, though Dawson was able to land a few counter right hooks as Ward lunged inside. In the third round, Ward dropped Dawson with a left hook and dominated the round. Again in the fourth round, Ward was able to drop Dawson, in another dominating round. From fifth round until the end of the fight, Ward was able to neutralize Dawson's jab and work rate, seemingly out boxing and frustrating Dawson throughout. Then, in the tenth round, Ward dropped Dawson to a knee after a solid combination, which prompted referee Steve Smoger to stop the fight after Dawson could not continue. At the time of stoppage, Ward was ahead 90–79, 89–80, and 89–80 on all three judges' scorecards. For the loss, Dawson earned $600,000, whilst Ward had a total $1,367,500 purse.
The fight was watched by an average 1.3 million viewers on HBO. In 2013, Dawson spoke out about the fight and said it was a "set-up by HBO and other people." He claimed that it was done to make him look "vulnerable and expose him with weight loss."
On March 23, 2013, the WBC stripped Ward of the WBC super-middleweight title belt for being inactive for a long period of time, and for failing to face a mandatory challenger. They granted him champion emeritus status. Ward claimed a shoulder injury that required surgery was the reason for his inactivity, but the WBC claimed that Ward had not provided any medical evidence or even given them a rough availability date.
On May 20, Ward relinquished the champion emeritus title, stating that he did not believe the WBC had the right to strip him of the world title because he was willing and able to defend it within the period specified by the WBC's rules. Ward was praised for standing up to the WBC.
Ward spent all of 2014 inactive, still feuding with Goossen. Dan Goossen died of complications from liver cancer in September 2014, leaving the future of Andre Ward's boxing career even further in doubt.
On February 19, 2015 The Ring stripped Ward of the Ring champion belt due to him not having defended his title against a top #5 contender in the last two years.
On November 12, 2015, in advance of his upcoming move up to the light heavyweight division, Ward vacated his WBA super middleweight title. Ward originally claimed the belt in November 2009 with a victory over long-time champion Mikkel Kessler in his opening fight of the Super Six tournament.
After being knocked down in the second round, he won a controversial decision with all three judges scoring the fight 114–113 in favor of Ward. Ward reiterated how the events of the evening unfolded, "I got off the canvas against the hardest puncher in the division and smiled. I took the fight to him and closed the show." Ward received Kovalev's WBA (Super), IBF, and WBO light heavyweight titles and became a two-division world champion.
Boxing experts have claimed that the judging was unfair. "It was a classic hometown decision. Kovalev won the fight", Larry Merchant stated after the fight. Kovalev's promoter, Kathy Duva, said, "We got a great fight, which is what boxing needed. But we also got a bad decision, which is not what boxing needed." On the same token, many boxing fans have applauded the decision. Paulie Malignaggi noted the high degree of difficulty both fighters faced that night and doubted the prospect of a one-sided affair in the case of a rematch. Still, he concluded that Kovalev faded late in the fight. Promoter Eddie Hearn added that Kovalev lacked a sense of urgency after the halfway point. Gennady Golovkin's trainer, Abel Sanchez, scored the fight 114–112 for Kovalev. For the fight, Kovalev received a minimum purse of $2 million and Ward's purse was a career-high $5 million. CompuBox stats showed that Kovalev landed more punches, 126 of 474 punches; Ward landed 116 out of 337 thrown .
The fight reported to have done 160,000 buys on HBO. A replay was shown on HBO prior to the Vasyl Lomachenko–Nicholas Walters title fight, which averaged 834,000 viewers. The event produced a live gate of $3.3 million from 10,066 tickets sold, including complimentary tickets, the full attendance was announced as 13,310. The venue was set up to hold 14,227.
In front of 10,592, the fight ended with controversy in the 8th round with a victory for Ward. A right hand from Ward had Kovalev in trouble, which was followed by several low blows. Tony Weeks stopped the fight, with Kovalev sitting on the middle rope, visibly hurt from the low blows he was subjected to. At the time of stoppage, two judges had Ward ahead 67–66, whilst the third judge had it 68–65 in favor of Kovalev. CompuBox stats showed that Ward landed 80 of 238 punches (34%) whilst Kovalev landed more punches with 95 of his 407 thrown (23%).
Ward praised Kovalev in the post-fight interview, "He's a good fighter, and I have nothing but respect for him. First time around, the man is world champion, and he's been on top a long time. I give him credit. He is a great fighter, and when you fight great fighters, you have to raise your game." Kovalev said the fight could have continued and pointed to low blows, "I couldn't believe it, I could win," he said."Only a low blow (hurt me)," he added, before watching video of the end of the fight and observing: "Low blow - and I felt this. Again, another one. The first one was on the border, and the second one a low blow."
According to Yahoo! Sports, the fight only generated around 130,000 buys on HBO PPV. The replay was shown on regular HBO averaging 752,000 viewers and peaked at 947,000, which was during the final round. The event produced a live gate of $2,187,340 from 6,366 tickets sold, including complimentary tickets, the full attendance was announced as 10,592. The venue was set up to hold 10,748.
On August 23, 2017, Ward announced that his contract with HBO had expired, making him a free agent. He confirmed that he was still under contract with Roc Nation Sports, but rumours indicated that he could sign with Top Rank. His appearance as an analyst for the Terence Crawford vs. Julius Indongo fight sparked further rumours.
On December 15, 2020, Ward was announced as being inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2021, his first year of eligibility.
| 32 | Win | 32–0 | Sergey Kovalev | TKO | 8 (12), | Jun 17, 2017 | ||
| 31 | Win | 31–0 | Sergey Kovalev | UD | 12 | Nov 19, 2016 | ||
| 30 | Win | 30–0 | Alexander Brand | UD | 12 | Aug 6, 2016 | ||
| 29 | Win | 29–0 | Sullivan Barrera | UD | 12 | Mar 26, 2016 | ||
| 28 | Win | 28–0 | Paul Smith | TKO | 9 (12), | Jun 20, 2015 | ||
| 27 | Win | 27–0 | Edwin Rodríguez | UD | 12 | Nov 16, 2013 | ||
| 26 | Win | 26–0 | Chad Dawson | TKO | 10 (12), | Sep 8, 2012 | ||
| 25 | Win | 25–0 | Carl Froch | UD | 12 | Dec 17, 2011 | ||
| 24 | Win | 24–0 | Arthur Abraham | UD | 12 | May 14, 2011 | ||
| 23 | Win | 23–0 | Sakio Bika | UD | 12 | Nov 27, 2010 | ||
| 22 | Win | 22–0 | Allan Green | UD | 12 | Jun 19, 2010 | ||
| 21 | Win | 21–0 | Mikkel Kessler | 11 (12), | Nov 21, 2009 | |||
| 20 | Win | 20–0 | Shelby Pudwill | TKO | 3 (10), | Sep 12, 2009 | ||
| 19 | Win | 19–0 | Edison Miranda | UD | 12 | May 16, 2009 | ||
| 18 | Win | 18–0 | Henry Buchanan | UD | 12 | Feb 6, 2009 | ||
| 17 | Win | 17–0 | Esteban Camou | TKO | 3 (10), | Dec 13, 2008 | ||
| 16 | Win | 16–0 | Jerson Ravelo | TKO | 8 (12), | Jun 20, 2008 | ||
| 15 | Win | 15–0 | Rubin Williams | TKO | 7 (10), | Mar 20, 2008 | ||
| 14 | Win | 14–0 | Roger Cantrell | TKO | 5 (10), | Nov 16, 2007 | ||
| 13 | Win | 13–0 | Francisco Diaz | TKO | 3 (8), | Jul 14, 2007 | ||
| 12 | Win | 12–0 | Dhafir Smith | TKO | 6 (8), | May 17, 2007 | ||
| 11 | Win | 11–0 | Julio Jean | TKO | 3 (8), | Mar 29, 2007 | ||
| 10 | Win | 10–0 | Derrick Findley | UD | 6 | Nov 16, 2006 | ||
| 9 | Win | 9–0 | Andy Kolle | RTD | 6 (8), | Apr 29, 2006 | ||
| 8 | Win | 8–0 | Kendall Gould | UD | 6 | Feb 23, 2006 | ||
| 7 | Win | 7–0 | Darnell Boone | UD | 6 | Nov 19, 2005 | ||
| 6 | Win | 6–0 | Glenn LaPlante | 1 (6), | Oct 1, 2005 | |||
| 5 | Win | 5–0 | Christopher Holt | 3 (6), | Aug 18, 2005 | |||
| 4 | Win | 4–0 | Ben Aragon | TKO | 3 (6), | Jun 18, 2005 | ||
| 3 | Win | 3–0 | Roy Ashworth | 3 (6), | Apr 7, 2005 | |||
| 2 | Win | 2–0 | Kenny Kost | 6 | Feb 10, 2005 | |||
| 1 | Win | 1–0 | Chris Molina | 2 (4), | Dec 18, 2004 |
| + United States | |||||
| 1 | Kovalev vs. Ward | Pound for Pound | 160,000 | HBO | |
| 2 | Ward vs. Kovalev II | The Rematch | 125,000 | HBO | |
| + Films | |||
| 2015 | Creed | Danny "Stuntman" Wheeler | |
| 2018 | Creed II | Danny "Stuntman" Wheeler | |
| 2023 | S.O.G.: The Book of Ward | Himself | Documentary |
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