Quote Originally Posted by ykdadamaja View Post
Ward should have fought Dirrell, GGG and Canelo to solidify his claim as being one of the best ever. But he left the game unfinished. I wish he had not retired, but I respect his decision.

I totally understand your feelings on this one. I also thought Ward left a bit prematurely. The other side of the coin is, he left at 33 years old. He did have a 13-year professional career. That's pretty reasonable given the nature of boxing. There's always going to be fighters out there that we wish had been matched. But because of: age differences, weight differences, or (ugh) promotional differences... sometimes it doesn't happen.

Ward was one of those lucky/ smart fighters to go out on top. You can't fault his resume. He fought some very respectable and even elite opposition. I personally thought Kovalev was going to destroy him in their first fight. Yet he survived... won... and exposed the bully in their second fight (laying out the blueprint for one famous boxing "hyena" who later picked apart the scraps).

So basically you can't fault Ward too much... and like you, I also respect his decision.