Andre Ward is an Olympic gold medalist and former super middleweight and light heavyweight weight world champion. He retired with an undefeated record in September of 2017 and held multiple world titles in two weight classes, including the unified WBA (Super), WBC, Ring magazine, and lineal super middleweight titles between 2009 and 2015; and the unified WBA, IBF, WBO, and Ring light heavyweight titles between 2016 and 2017. During his reign as light heavyweight champion, Ward was ranked as the world's best active boxer, pound for pound, by The Ring magazine and the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board (TBRB), as well as the world's best active boxer in the division by The Ring, the TBRB, and BoxRec. As an amateur, Ward won a gold medal in the light heavyweight division at the 2004 Olympics and turned professional later that year. He rose to worldwide prominence and entered the Super Six World Boxing Classic tournament in 2009, where he won the WBA (Super) super middleweight title from Mikkel Kessler in the opening group stage. In 2011, Ward defeated WBC champion Carl Froch in the tournament final to unify the titles, as well as winning the vacant Ring and lineal titles. That same year, Ward was named Fighter of the Year by The Ring and the Boxing Writers' Association of America. He later won The Ring's Comeback of the Year award in 2016. The highly anticipated bout between "SOG" Ward versus Sergey Kovalev to determine who was the best light heavyweight in the world lived up to its billing as the two battled on November 19th, 2016 for 12 hard fought rounds at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Ward battled back from an early knockdown to take over the bout and win a unanimous decision victory and hand Kovalev his first professional defeat. Fans and pundits alike clamored for a rematch and Ward granted their wish. The two met a second time on June 17, 2017 at Mandalay Bay to once again settle the score and Ward ensured that all questions were answered with a definitive eight round TKO to retain his light heavyweight titles.