Came across this article which I greatly enjoyed. It's long, but highly recommended reading - gives a lot of insight into him as a person.
Andre Ward, perhaps the best prizefighter in the world, inherited the mantle from a line of leading men. Yet his role in boxing was never descended from Muhammad Ali’s brash hero, Mike Tyson’s villain, or Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s “Money”-obsessed anti-hero.
In boxing’s family of messy, dark characters, Ward is a virtual unknown, despite his success. While others sought the limelight, he resisted it, closely guarding his privacy and a family story that could rival any of his predecessors for pathos...
... “I’ve never talked about my story before,” Ward said. “I didn’t feel like I had to. I didn’t want people to grab a hold of that and just run with the typical African-American who came from the ghetto.”
Source: The Undefeated
Great article, would give you green K if I could. Favourite quote:
“I’ve boxed for over 20 years. I’ve taken a lot of punishment. It may not be the kind of punishment my critics expect me to have taken, lying on the canvas unconscious. But I’ve taken punishment. Every time I spar or take big shots in my fights, I may not show it, but I’ve taken some punishment. My wife sees it. She sees the aftermath. When it’s hard to get out of bed two or three days after a fight and she has to help me? What’s that?
Ward is a very likable guy. Also love him for giving back Paul Smith's penalty fine after coming in overweight. Stand up dude.