Andre Ward talks retirement on The Fight Game

HBO’s latest installment of Jim Lampley’s The Fight Game aired last night and featured an appearance from Andre Ward, who talked a bit about his unexpected retirement. Ward was just coming off a big win in his rematch with Sergey Kovalev and decided that he accomplished everything he wanted to in the sport, and wanted to go out on his own terms.

At age 33, with there still being plenty left in the tank for Ward, the transition away from a sport he’s dedicated his life to is undoubtedly difficult. That said, Ward did share some thoughts about how he frames his decision to walk away and whether or not he feels any regrets about the decision.

“No second thoughts. Retirement is a lot harder than I thought it would be. I studied retiring. There is a detox that has to take place. I have been doing this 23 years straight…then all of a sudden it’s gone. And it’s a process, but it is a process that I felt I had to undertake and I am up for the challenge. I just hope to be someone the younger fighters can point to and say, ‘He did it the right way.’“

Ward leaves the sport with an unblemished record of 32-0, 16 KOs but we can still expect him to remain around the sport in a commentator/analyst capacity, much like he has been over the last several years.