Andre Ward
Andre Ward ( born February 23, 1984 in San Francisco, California, United States) is an American professional boxer and current WBA and former WBC champion at super middleweight.
Amateur career
As an amateur boxer Ward was a two-time U.S. Champion: 2001 in the middleweight and light heavyweight in 2003. At the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens he became Olympic champion in the light heavyweight class. He suggested this in the first round Clemente Russo, Italy ( 17:9 ), in the quarterfinals favorites Yevgeny Makarenko, in the semifinals Utkirbek Khaidarov, Uzbekistan ( 17:15), and in the finale the Belarusians Magomed Aripgadijew ( 20:13) and secured so the only Americans in this Olympic boxing tournament the gold medal. As an amateur, he had a score of 114 (some sources 115) victories in only 5 Niederlagen.Seine last defeat dates back to 1998.
Professional career
On December 18, 2004 Andre Ward was in Los Angeles in the supporting program of the fight against Glen Johnson Antonio Tarver of his successful pro debut. He won all his fights so far, but was already on the ground and is considered poor slave with only average power. He struggled in the first two years of his professional career mainly in the middleweight division, since 2007 mainly in the super middleweight division. In May 2009 Ward fought against the hard-hitting Colombian Edison Miranda and won this fight on points.
Ward was then invited to the Super Middleweight Tournament " Super Six World Boxing Classic". As part of this tournament he met on November 21, 2009 in Oakland to the WBA champion Mikkel Kessler and could defeat this on points. The fight was stopped in the eleventh round due to a laceration Kessler, so that Ward was declared on the labels point to the new world champion of the WBA due to its clear leadership. His second fight in this competition contested Andre Ward on June 19, 2010 from Allan Green, who had entered as a replacement for Jermain Taylor in the tournament. Ward beat Green convincingly on points - all three judges scored each of the twelve rounds in his favor. In his fight on 27 November 2010, he defeated Sakio Bika clearly on points, largely because of his jabs. However, this title fight was not part of the tournament. In the semifinals, he won 14 May 2011 by a unanimous points victory over Arthur Abraham and moved with it to the final. Here, on 17 December 2011 in Atlantic City to the title unification fight with WBC titlist Carl Froch. Ward decided the fight by unanimous decision for himself and secured the overall victory of the " Super Six " tournament.
In September 2012, Ward defended both his titles against Chad Dawson. He sent this in the third and fourth round to the ground and won by a further precipitation in the tenth round technical knockout
Since Ward was able to fulfill any title defense of his WBC title due to an injury, he was demoted by the WBC for " Champion Emeritus ". However, he laid down this track then.
Achievements
- Amateur Record: 114 wins - 5 losses
- Professional record: 26 wins - 0 Losses
- 2001: U.S. Amateur champion at middleweight
- 2003: U.S. Amateur champion at light heavyweight
- 2004: Olympic champion in the light heavyweight division
- June 20, 2008: North American champion of the WBO Super Middleweight (2 title defenses )
- February 6, 2009: North American champion of the NABF Super Middleweight (1 title defense )
- November 21, 2009: World Champion WBA Super Middleweight (previously 6 title defenses )
- December 17, 2011: World Champion of the WBC Super Middleweight (1 title defense ) and total victory of the tournament " Super Six World Boxing Classic "