Andre Ward Revisits His Decision to Retire

So the three fight deal was on the table. And Roman Gonzalez, Soretsukai, or Soretsukoi, Soretsukai, Soring Visai. We're getting ready to fight their rematch at the Home Depot Center. I think it was September 9th. September 6th, that was a Wednesday. I was supposed to be in LA to announce the new signing and get ready to call that fight. That Wednesday, I come home and I'm kind of like, I'm not boo-hoing, but I'm in tears. And I tell my wife, I was like, I don't want to do it anymore. And even saying that sounded crazy to me. She was like, she was just real quiet. I'm thinking like, why is she not saying nothing? I was like, I don't think I'm going to do this anymore. And she said something she had never said previously. Typically, she's like, babe, look, it's not time. Come on. You got to get up. I know you feel this way. I know you're back. But come on. I feel like you still got time in the sport. First time she ever agreed with me, she was like, I think the decision is already made. I was like, what? She said, I think the decision is already made. She said, I've been looking at you throughout this whole day and some of the stuff you've been saying, and I've never really seen you like this. She said, I think it's already made. I took that out, bro. I started making phone calls. I called my lawyer who was one of my good friends, Josh Dubin. I said, hey, bro, I think that may be it for me. And he had been wanting me to be done. He was like, if you feel that way, bro, I'm going to support you. Called my manager the next morning, and it took us. So I went, I went, I went that weekend and called the fight. We held off on the announcement. And my lawyer just told HBO, like, look, he's going through some things. We're good. Give us a couple of days. So I got through that weekend and he said, do you still feel like that come Monday morning? I was like, bro, I think I'm done. Long story short, we ended up announcing it September 21st. It was like a two week period. We were trying to keep it under wraps, but I was undoing all the stuff. I was letting the necessary people know, Roc Nation, HBO, everybody know. And the night before I announced it, me and my good friend, who's a director, he's also directing my doc, Deontay Thompson. He, we put together this video. It was like a legacy video where I had my young son, my middle son, and my oldest son. And those were like, those were like, you know, that was me at that point in time in my career. And we did this whole video that I was going to announce my retirement with. And, and I actually have the doc that I'm working on right now is about this. Like, why did the best fighter of the world at that time walk away from the sport on top? Shot that video out, man. The day of my retirement, bro. And the response was just overwhelming. You know, it was overwhelming. Like, I just couldn't believe the amount of people that were reaching out. And it was, it was, it was like good and bad. Like, it was good because I was getting support, but it felt like somebody died. Like, I felt like I died, bro. I'm looking at these rest in peace, like not literal rest in peace, but like the comments were like, rest in peace. Like, bro, are you, I couldn't believe, man, I'm, what? Like, Ward, not you, man. Oh my God, man. And it was just, it was like just this huge reaction. And it was overwhelming. And in the two years that followed, like I said, at the beginning of this podcast, harder than I thought it was going to be one of the hardest, if not the hardest thing I've ever tried, had to do and still like I still have to do like it's a daily decision to be like, I'm not doing it no more. But one of the most rewarding, man. And it was a necessary evil. And I hope that one day, man, the young guys can look up one day and say, man, I'm gonna do the Andre Ward. I'm done. I'm out. Like, how long do we have to do it before we feel satisfied? Look, bro, save your money. If you don't, if you're not financially literate, go get some help. Ask questions. And as soon as you feel like you're not really there, you don't want to do it no more. Right off in the sunset, bro. There's other stuff you can do. I hope to be an example in that area. Well, it's so important, I think, for there to be a guy like you because people always have this narrative. Fighters always come back. They always fight like Sugar Ray Leonard did when he fought, you know, later in his career when he fought. Terry Norris. Donny Lalonde. Yeah. But then he went and fought. Yeah, the Terry Norris fight was hard to watch, man. And then, you know, Hector Camacho stopped him. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, it was like he got it. Camacho couldn't punch either. It was in his calf was all fucked up back then. Billy Blanks was training him. You remember that? I mean, it's just sad when you see these guys just still try to do it over and over and over again until the same story keeps repeating itself. When a guy like you, there was only Hagler before you. Hagler was only the only guy. Lennox Lewis, too. Oh, that's true. Lennox Lewis. But it's a handful. Yeah, it's a handful. Yeah, Lennox Lewis is a brilliant guy, too. You know, it's like plays chaffs. He's articulate. He's an interesting, intelligent guy that just said, we're good. We did everything we need to do. We did everything we needed to do. Having those guys like you is so important for young fighters because they get told by the assholes, you know, hey, you know, all fighters are going to wind up with brain damage. All fighters are going to wind up going out on their back. They're all going to wind up coming back after their prime. It's so important for guys like you to say, you know, no, you can manage it correctly. These are shark infested waters. But if you stay on the rocks and you do your due diligence and you put in the work and your discipline and you fight correctly, I agree with you so wholeheartedly about appreciation of the masters of a real masterful boxer. Like when I always talk to people about Floyd Mayweather, they talk all this shit. He does this. He does that. He's got all this money. I go save all that. Forget about his talking. Watch how that guy fights. He fucking barely gets hit. He's been rocked maybe twice in his whole career. Maidana and and sugar, shame, mostly. Those are the only two. The only two guys who cracked him and he bought up, went in both those fights. He's a master, masterful boxer. And that's what everybody should emulate. This I mean, I love the Arturo Gotti Mickey Ward fights as much as anybody did. But if that was my son, I'd be freaking the fuck out. I'd be like, don't fight like that. It's not worth it. I don't give a fuck how many of these drunken assholes cheer you on. They're not going to be with you when you wake up in the morning. Your head is pounding in your head when you have a hard time looking at light. When you have to have all the shades closed. When just a little crack of light coming in through the shade is hurting you. It's giving you a headache. They're not going to be there with you when you're old. The Virgis always put it like this and this has shut a lot of people down. He said, man, let me ask you a question. He do this to reporters and stuff like on a like if there was an open workout. He knew it was a particular reporter in there that was, you know, rah, rah, and you know, talking down against, you know, guys who could buy. He said, ask your question. You got kids? Yeah. You got a son? Absolutely. If you wanted your son to box and it was two guys at the gym and one coach said, Amen. I'm going to teach your son how to hit and not get hit. Period. I know this art. I've mastered it and I'm going to help him master it. And then you got this guy over here to say, look, man, I'm he may have to take two to give one, but look, he's going to be tough. He's going to be durable. And who would you send your kid with? And they go, ah, the first guy. Well, there you have it.