Andre Ward Latest News
By Dan Ambrose: Andre Ward posted a short workout clip of doing some shadow boxing on Friday, and he’s looking sharp and ready to return to the ring. The former two-division world champion ‘SOG’. 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 titles in two weight classes, including the unified WBA (Super), WBC, Ring magazine, and lineal super middleweight titles between 2009 and 2015; and the unified WBA (Undisputed), IBF, WBO, and Ring light heavyweight.
As far as Andre Ward is concerned, it's thanks, but no thanks.
Ward, the former unified super middleweight and light heavyweight world titleholder, said Friday that he is not interested in coming out of retirement to fight newly crowned light heavyweight titlist Canelo Alvarez.
Since Alvarez, boxing's biggest star, climbed two weight divisions and scored a sensational 11th-round knockout of Kovalev on Saturday night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas to win a title in a fourth weight division, there has been rampant speculation that perhaps Ward would exit retirement to take on Alvarez in a megafight.
However, Ward, who twice defeated Kovalev, shot down the speculation during an interview on ESPN's SportsCenter on Friday afternoon.
'I'm not coming out of retirement to fight Canelo Alvarez,' Ward said. 'There's been a lot of talk -- when that fight was signed and, obviously, since Canelo got the victory over Sergey Kovalev. My phone's been blowing up nonstop. There's been a lot of pressure from individuals in the business, entertainers, you name it, trying to pull me out and it's just not something that I'm interested in doing.
'But don't get me wrong. I'm a fighter at heart. It's not hard to talk me into a fight. It's actually harder to talk me off the ledge and I have great team members [and] we sit down and talk about these things and I have to keep my word. And I have to stick to my conviction that I made Sept. 21, 2017. I feel like I'm gonna be a better asset to the sport of boxing, my family, my church -- all the things that I'm doing as a retired fighter than I would be if I came back.'
Ward (32-0, 16 KOs), 35, of Oakland, California, had a brilliant career but it ended far sooner than many expected when he stunningly announced his retirement on Sept. 21, 2017 despite being viewed by many as the No. 1 boxer in the world pound for pound at the time.
Ward's retirement announcement came just three months after he stopped Kovalev in the eighth round of their rematch in June 2017 to retain the three light heavyweight world title belts he had taken from Kovalev by controversial decision in their first fight in November 2016.
Ward won an Olympic gold medal in 2004, and cleaned out the super middleweight division as he unified two belts by decision against Carl Froch to win the Super Six World Boxing Classic tournament in 2011. Injuries and a dispute over his promotional contract kept him out of the ring for long stretches following the Super Six, but he eventually moved up to light heavyweight for the final five bouts of his career, culminating with the two wins over Kovalev, who went on to regain 175-pound belts twice before losing to Alvarez.
Ward has remained involved in boxing since retiring. He is part of the management team that represents newly crowned featherweight world titlist Shakur Stevenson and he also works as a broadcaster. First he was with HBO, but since the network ended its boxing coverage last December, he has worked as a ringside analyst on the Top Rank Boxing on ESPN cards.
The Latest on the effects of the coronavirus outbreak on sports around the world:
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The Southeastern Conference has postponed Vanderbilt’s men’s basketball game at Texas A&M on Wednesday night, the second game between the teams postponed this season.
The SEC says this postponement is because of a combination of positive tests, contact tracing and quarantining of people inside Texas A&M’s program. No make-up date has been scheduled.
The first game in Nashville between the teams on Jan. 20 was postponed due to COVID-19 testing, tracing and quarantining with Vanderbilt.
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The Buffalo Sabres are the latest NHL team to be shut down because of players in COVID protocol.
The league has announced the Sabres are shut down through at least Feb. 8 after two players were added to the COVID-19 protocol list. Buffalo played New Jersey twice over the weekend, and the Devils are off through at least Feb. 6 with 10 players on the list.
Buffalo’s game at he New York Islanders scheduled for tonight was already postponed. This move postpones three additional games, bringing the NHL’s total to 18 so far.
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The International Boxing Hall of Fame is postponing its induction weekend for the second straight year due to the “many unknowns” of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Hall of Fame executive director Ed Brophy says next year’s ceremony is scheduled for June 12 and will be themed a Hall of Fame Weekend Induction Trilogy. The event will honor the classes of 2020, 2021 and 2022.
Brophy says it’s important to honor inductees in an environment where they can intermingle with one another and fans.
The Class of 2020 includes boxers Bernard Hopkins, Juan Manuel Marquez, “Sugar” Shane Mosley, Frank Erne, Paddy Ryan, Barbara Buttrick, Christy Martin and Lucia Rijker.
The Class of 2021 includes boxers Wladimir Klitschko, Floyd Mayweather Jr., Andre Ward, Laila Ali, Ann Wolfe, Marian Trimiar, Jackie Tonawanda and Davey Moore.
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The National Federation of State High School Associations has revised its original guidance on how to conduct prep sports safely during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The new guidance suggests community infection rates are a better gauge for transmission of the illness during athletic events rather than categorizing sports into high, medium and low risk. The organization also notes more recent data show transmission is relatively rare during athletic events.
The organization said the science shows infection rates in non-contact sports are lower than those in contact sports, outdoors sports have lower infection rates than indoor sports, and the use of face masks during indoor events produces similar transmission rates to outdoor sports.
The NFHSA also said new evidence reveals a majority of sports-related COVID-19 cases come from social contact rather than participation. It recommends continuing to emphasize social distancing, the use of masks, staying home when ill, proper hygiene in the locker room during contests, while traveling and with interaction in the community.
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The NFL had zero confirmed positive tests among players and one new confirmed positive among other personnel in its latest round of COVID-19 testing from Jan. 24 to Jan. 30.
Andre Ward Last Fight
Individuals who test positive for COVID-19 follow the joint NFL-NFLPA Treatment Protocol. They are immediately isolated, not permitted to access club facilities, or to have direct contact with players or personnel. Club medical staff are in regular communication with individuals who test positive to monitor symptoms.
From Aug. 1 through Jan. 30 the league has conducted approximately 957,400 tests to players and personnel. During that time, 262 players and 463 other personnel were confirmed positive cases.
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The NHL has postponed Tuesday’s game between the Buffalo Sabres and New York Islanders because of travel and weather-related concerns linked to coronavirus protocols.
The snowstorm that hit the East Coast postponed the Sabres’ flight until game day, which altered COVID-19 testing and contact tracing and led to the postponement.
The Sabres played two games this past weekend against the New Jersey Devils, who were shut down through at least Saturday with 10 players on the league’s COVID protocols list.
Andre Ward Next Fight
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Boxing Andre Ward
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