CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Retirement on your own terms is not only rare but it often proves your occupation is not what defines you.
I'm not sure what unified light heavyweight champion Andre Ward has planned for the next phase of his life, besides doing color for HBO, but his ability to walk away from boxing at 33 and as an undefeated champion is admirable.
His retirement is also smart. How often have we seen some of the best fighters of various generations stay too long or come out of retirement for one last big payday.
Ward doesn't seem like the aforementioned type. He has always come across as a man of his word. Ward said in a statement last week that he's leaving boxing because he no longer wanted to put up with the rigors of the sport. Ward said the physicality inside of the ring and in preparation for fights took its toll.
Ward's run started as an amateur. He went 114-5 and won the last Olympic gold medal for an American in the 2004 Games.
This is the same Ward who went through two long layoffs due to promotional issues. Ward came back when he managed to reach acceptable terms. It was during his amateur days when Ward suffered his last defeat in the 1997 National Silver Gloves when he was 13.
From there, he reached professional prominence when he stacked victories against the likes of Mikkel Kessler, Arthur Abraham, Carl Froch and Chad Dawson in the Super Six World Boxing Classic.
His last two fights, a close victory over Sergey Kovalev followed by a KO victory over Kovalev last June, closed out his career.
Rumors circulated that Ward made this move to get out of his deal with Roc Nation Sports to move over to Top Rank. And some trolls insist his move was to avoid an encounter with Triple G.
Neither is likely. But it will be interesting to see how history treats Ward. He ends his career ranked by many as the best fighter pound-for-pound, but many wonder what would have happened between Ward and Triple G at a catchweight or what type of success would Ward have against some of the cruiserweight champions.
It doesn't look like we'll ever know.
Quick jabs
This week in boxing history
Sept. 29, 2007:Kelly Pavlik wins the world middleweight title over Jermain Taylor by knockout in the seventh round.
Boxing schedule
9 p.m., Saturday (ESPN Deportes):
- Gary "Spike" O'Sullivan vs. Nick Quigley, middleweights
- Reckay Dulay vs. Dardan Zenunaj, junior lightweights
- Greg Vendetti vs. Casey Kramlich, junior middleweights
- Carlos Gongora vs. Henry Beckford, super middleweights
- Shayna Foppiano vs. Lamarya Geary, women junior middleweights
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