Andre Ward missed his chance to be a GOAT

[The Big Dunn]

I mean this guy had all the skills and boxing IQ to be one of the greats in boxing ever. But if he really did retire he will only be considered a great fighter. His resume ain't deep enough to be up there with Hopkins, Roy, Mayweather, pacman. Too bad because I know he has the skill to be up there. Just my two cents.

He's a HOF'er for sure, maybe even a 1st ballot HOF'er. He beat everyone he faced.

[Johnny2x2x]

Kessler, Abraham, Froch, Dawson, Kovalev 2X are some big scalps on his record. Several other solid names.

Beat the toughest guys possible for his era and looked for challenges. I think he's about 5 good fights from being top 20 all time. Will go down top 50 though.

[Madison Boxing]

ward never had the ability to be an ATG and he knows it,otherwise hed leave things in no doubt. Hes absolutely miles behind someone like mayweather. . Hes 33 not 43. He could have cleared out LHW and fought stevenson, jack and beterbiev. Then fight the winner of the cruiser tournament (most likely usyk). Retire by the age of 35 with a few more million in the bank account. i dont think thats an unrealistic career progression or asking too much of him. Instead hes took the easy way out and retired before someone took his 0, he knows how close that was to going against kovalev and he really should have a 1 on his loss column.

[NEETzsche]

I wanted to see him fight Stevenson too. Fighting those other top fighters would be great too.

However I can't help but to feel this is that ol "ok honey, just work ONE more year and we'll be good"..."ok, just hold out ONE more year and I'll pay you back"

There will always be more fighters to enhance your legacy. At some point you have to decide when it's your time to stop. I think that as long as you're happy with what you've done and look forward to life after Boxing while young, that's what matters. Some will never give you credit for your accomplishments and some will. Can't please everybody. So why not focus on pleasing your own self and those important to you.

I can't imagine that Boxing is everything to him.

Sure, it's his life and he knows his body better than I do, but assuming he could have replicated his form from the Kovalev rematch a couple more times he definitely could have given his legacy a nice boost. It's not a matter of placating the doubters, just of maximising his potential, which I don't think he fully did

[////]

The last punch of his professional career was perhaps the most blatant low blow I've ever seen in a professional fight

Which kind of sums up his career as a whole

[boliodogs]

I mean this guy had all the skills and boxing IQ to be one of the greats in boxing ever. But if he really did retire he will only be considered a great fighter. His resume ain't deep enough to be up there with Hopkins, Roy, Mayweather, pacman. Too bad because I know he has the skill to be up there. Just my two cents.

He said his body can't handle the hard training needed to keep him fighting at the highest level. Why should he keep fighting and risk losing to a guy he would have defeated earlier. It's a good decision. He has defeated many good fighters and his place as an all time great is already established. Not everybody is an ageless boxer like Mayweather and Hopkins. Ward made the right choice. To fight on when his body tells him to retire might get some Ls on his record. If Leonard had retired at Ward's age he would have avoided humiliating defeats to Norris and Camacho.

[-PBP-]

He made it to the top of the sport and carried the tradition of USA Boxing's P4P Kings

SRR
Ali
Leonard
Whitaker
Roy Jones
Mayweather
Ward

[muslimer12]

He made it to the top of the sport and carried the tradition of USA Boxing's P4P Kings

SRR
Ali
Leonard
Whitaker
Roy Jones
Mayweather
Ward

Lol no way Ward is up there