Boxing champion Andre Ward retires

Boxing champion Andre Ward announced his retirement from the sport on Thursday with a blog post and accompanying video on his Twitter.

Andre Ward is a two-weight champion and considered one of the best pound for pound fighters in the world. But roughly three months after defeating Sergey Kovalev for the second time to retain his WBA, IBF, and WBO light heavyweight titles, and win the vacant The Ring light heavyweight title, Ward has announced that he will retire, undefeated at 32-0.

“To the sport of boxing – I love you,” Ward wrote in a post titled Mission Accomplished. “You’ve been by my side since I was 10-years-old. You’ve taught me so much. You’ve humbled me. You’ve promoted me. I’ve sacrificed a lot for you, but you’ve given me more than I ever thought possible. You gave me a platform, made me a champion and helped me provide for my family. I am forever grateful to you. You and I will always be synonymous, connected at the hip. Thank you for all the wonderful people I’ve come in contact with because of you. I’ve made friends for life. As I walk away from the sport of boxing today, I leave at the top of your glorious mountain, which was always my vision and my dream. I did it. We did it.

“From the bottom of my heart, thank you to everyone who has played a part in my journey. You know who you are. I could not have done this without you. I want to be clear – 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. If I cannot give my family, my team, and the fans everything that I have, then I should no longer be fighting. Above all, I give God the Glory, for allowing me to do what I’ve done, for as long as I have.”

Ward’s last two fights came against Kovalev. The first was a close and contested unanimous decision that gave the Ward the win with a one-round edge on all three judges’ scorecards. It marked a remarkable comeback after Ward was knocked down in the second round, but a cloud of scrutiny from fans and pundits alike, forcing the rematch.

Ward has been mulling retirement since before the rematch bout was booked, and perhaps took the rematch to end without any questions lingering over his career.

“I really just got to take my time right now because I really don’t have to fight anymore,” Ward told Rolling Stone in January. “I’ve accomplished pretty much everything that I’ve wanted to accomplish. It’s not about the money anymore, it’s just because god has blessed me to still have the ability to do it and I still love it. I just really got to take my time right now and make sure that every decision that I make and every fight that I take is the right situation because if it’s not, I don’t know if it makes sense to continue on.”

The rematch, which Ward won via a TKO in the eighth round, has been a part of 2017 being a banner year in the sport of boxing, including the high-profile fight between Floyd Mayweather and UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor, as well as the entertaining bout between Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin.