Andre Ward retires from boxing at the age of 33 to the surprise of the world today but upon understanding his reasons, big respect to him.

The news has broke today that one of the modern era’s best pound for pound boxers Andre ‘SOG’ Ward has retired from the sport with an unblemished record.

An Olympic Gold medallist for his country in the 2004 Olympics in Athens, a multiple weight world champion as a professional who fought some of the best fighters available to him in his era – Ward has done it all as a boxer.

These are the reasons Ward has given today to his fans in the form of a wonderful short statement on his website that outlines his achievements in the sport, and a personal message to his fans:

Mission accomplished is right.

He faced his professional nemesis Sergey Kovalev on two occasions. Getting the win both times after the fight was in the making for years.

Prior to that he cleaned up the super-middleweight division and famously won the ‘Super-6’ tournament. Beating great fighters like Carl Froch on route to picking up the trophy.

The only fight in theory left for him out there was one against WBC light-heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson. Likely that proved too difficult to make.

Everyone at Boxing News and Views would like to wish Andre Ward all the best in his retirement. What a career.

A guy who went out on top.

His professional career record will stand at 32-0-16KO.