Editor’s Note: The documentary “SOG: The Book of Ward” premieres Friday on Showtime.
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Andre Ward is both a survivor and a champion.
That couldn’t be clearer than in Showtime’s documentary “SOG: The Book of Ward,” which chronicles his journey from a life of suffering on the streets of Oakland, California, to recognition as one The best boxers of all time.
He comes from a home where both his parents battle drug addiction. And he ended up following the same path for a while, dealing drugs as an amateur. He can go one of two directions: towards a life that the statistics say won’t have a happy ending or back to the gym where his father took him when he died. childhood.
He chooses the latter because he has positive voices in his life (including longtime coach Virgil Hunter and devoted wife, Tiffiney), faith in God, and faith in himself. The rest is history.
Ward told Boxing Junkie: “I am always motivated. “I just always wanted to be good at everything, I was always competitive. Doing things right has always been important to me. And just have Virg there and my dad while he was alive, different people throughout my journey who told me the truth when I didn’t want to hear it.
“My pastor at a certain time. Only two or three voices in my life helped me make the right decisions. And then, of course, my beliefs. I need a higher power to connect me to the things I want to do.”
God be good to Ward, give him a once-in-a-lifetime talent and will to make the most of it.
SOG, child of God, remains the last American to win an Olympic gold medal. He turned an elusive trick in the 2004 Athens Olympics by defeating Uzbekistan’s Utkirbek Haydarov in the semi-finals and defeating Mahamed Aripgadzhiev of Belarus in the final.
And he’s just getting started.
He was just 25 years old and relatively unproven as a pro in 2009 when he entered the Super Six World Boxing Classic, a six-man tournament that brought together six of the best 168-pound boxers from around the world.
The favorites to win the championship are famous Europeans Mikkel Kessler, Arthur Abraham and Carl Froch. Ward was the one to be rethought, at least until his first game.
Ward opened against Kessler, a match in which the young American boxer stunned many in the boxing world by beating his more experienced Danish opponent in more than 10 rounds. The match was halted in Round 11 after a headbutt accidentally caused a slash above Kessler’s left eye but Ward had plenty of time to prove himself the better, winning a technical decision. wide.
As Dan Rafael wrote for ESPN at the time, “Despite Kessler’s complaints about headbutting and the refereeing, the reality is that Ward only kicked him in the ass.”
He never stops kicking his ass. He went on to defeat substitutes Allan Green, Abraham and Froch decisively to win the tournament title and establish himself as the best super middleweight boxer and an important figure in the sport. seemingly overnight.
He overcame a significant obstacle once again.
“It’s huge,” he said. “For me, a competitive person, to get ahead… I have the trophy right here in my office. Sometimes I glance at it, look at the names on it, and it just feeds you. I thought, ‘God, we’ve done it.’
“It’s also a very scary moment in my career if you’re one of the guys driving me because it’s a sinking or swimming moment. I could have drowned in that tournament. I haven’t beaten anyone up to that point.
“[Previous opponent] Edison Miranda is clearly a dangerous and difficult opponent but not on that level. Career ruined in Super Six. I could be one of them. So appearing on the other side only confirms that I am the truth and that I will be there for a very long time.
Ward’s next obstacle is outside the ring.
He’s been involved in a protracted legal battle to get out of a contract with promoter Dan Goossen instead of a co-promoter Ward believes has the right to be part of his team. That’s the main reason why he only fought twice between September 2012 and March 2016.
And before the dispute took place, Goossen passed away from liver cancer in September 2014.
Ward took a positive lesson from his relative inactivity during that period – most notably given his body’s time to heal after so many years in the ring – but the departure of a man he loves still makes him sad.
“[The inactivity] It’s a shame from the point of view that it’s not ideal,” he said. “However, I don’t see it the way people see it. People say, ‘Oh, you’ve lost your top two years.’ I look at it as if I went back two years because I was able to take a break. … I think I extended my career by two years by not fighting.
“And I learned a lot as an entrepreneur from going through that, getting to doing things. It was hard and stressful work, but I learned a lot.”
Goossen’s death has affected him more than many realize.
“It’s a loss for me no matter what people think or write,” he said. “Dan and I are a family. Sometimes families fight. Unfortunately, our fight is in public. Then to have a man die in the middle of the dispute. It’s a very, very difficult thing to overcome and deal with.
“The worst thing is not firing employees, not not fighting. That I had no end to this. I can’t even pay my respects.”
Ward has only fought seven times after he won the Super Six tournament, the last five as a 175-pound athlete.
The biggest and most sensational match of his career came in November 2016, when he challenged fearsome unified champion Sergey Kovalev in Las Vegas. Kovalev is a slick boxer with the power to knock him out with a single punch, which is why no one is in a hurry to get in his way.
Ward can match anyone’s skill level but this is a significant challenge. And he had a problem going into that match that was not made public: a knee injury that required drainage on match day.
Then things get really hairy. Kovalev took to the field from the opening bell, firing shot after shot until finally a right hand knocked Ward down on all fours.
Ward wasn’t seriously injured but he was in trouble anyway as Kovalev got a 10-8 inning and ran out of momentum. Will the ferocious Russian build on his success and blow Ward away? That seems to be where the war is going. Or will Ward find a way to regroup and turn the tide?
Now we know what Ward is made of. He maintained his poise, made the necessary adjustments and ultimately won a close, but was unanimously decided to become a two-team title holder.
Then, seven months later in the same town, he knocked out Kovalev in the round of 16 to clear doubts about his superiority over his opponent. Ward never fought again.
“God, it was hard,” Ward said, referring to his sore knee and what happened afterward. “It was difficult, it was difficult. Not only physically but also emotionally and mentally. I have found myself in those situations before in my life. It was the biggest moment of my life, the biggest moment of my career, and it wasn’t ideal.
“Now how are you going to respond? Where is your faith now? Have faith when everything is one thing but when the wind picks up and starts blowing where is your faith now? It’s a test of faith for sure.
“I really couldn’t believe it. I was only two hours away from the biggest game of my life in Las Vegas and I had to have the doctor come to my house to drain fluid from my knee. … I learned from that that I can make it through [anything] though things are not ideal.
“And I took that momentum into the second battle. I know Kovalev didn’t have a shot. And we showed that.”
Ward is only thinking of returning to the ring once, after Canelo Alvarez knocked Kovalez out in November 2019. If the Mexican star calls him out, he said, he’ll be back. Alvarez never mentioned him by name, which really put Ward’s career on hold.
He is now remembered as one of the greatest boxers of his generation, an Olympic champion who enjoyed a flawless professional career. And our admiration for him has only grown thanks to the Showtime documentary, which outlines the major obstacles he must overcome to accomplish what he’s done.
Ward is inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2021. It’s boxing’s way of saying, “We know what you’ve done. And it’s so special.”
“It’s just more for me,” he said. “… I’ve been to a place in my life where I don’t need confirmation. I know external authentication is fickle…so I don’t care much about that. It’s good to see things, read things and hear positive things about my career.
“Even so, the Hall of Fame is more to me. I remember thinking, ‘I need this call. I want to be a Hall of Famer to vote first so I can finally take a break.
