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“Man, I’ma finish everything we started. Everything,” Andre Ward promised leaning down on his father’s lifeless body in August 2002 after Frank Ward passed away from a heart attack. Just a year before, ‘S.O.G.’ became the United States amateur middleweight champion, solidifying his chances of participating in the Olympics. 

More good news followed as he won the Under 19 national championship in August 2002. However, life has a way of balancing itself—the immense success in his amateur boxing career came with the devastation of his father’s death later that month. Grief had engulfed the San Francisco native, and he was ready to quit the sport for good. 

But after seeing his father’s dead body, the epiphany struck him, which would go on to define his career in the sport. He realized he couldn’t give up on the sport—that’s when he leaned down to his father’s dead body and whispered the promise to finish what they had started together. 

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Frank Ward might not have trained the ‘Son Of God,’ but he introduced him to the sport early in his life. Ward’s father took him to the U.S. Karate School of the Arts, a boxing gym in Hayward, California, at the age of 9. Ward’s parents would later fall victim to drugs, and Ward was shipped off to live with his godfather, Virgil Hunter, who became his trainer and played the same role throughout his career. 

Despite that, Ward credits his father for his career in boxing. In a November 2023 post on social media, ‘S.O.G’ revealed what got him into the sport. “It was my father’s love of the sport that led me to boxing,” he wrote. “I deeply valued the stories he told me about his boxing career at Crestmoor High School. I could not believe they had a boxing team at his school.”

 

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“The man I loved and admired more than anybody in the world got in the ring and knocked people out? I was in,” he concluded. Decades after Frank Ward’s passing, Andre Ward continues to cherish the profound impact his father had on his life. “ME & MY DADDY Frank “Duke” Ward. I MISS YOU & LOVE YOU! THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING,” he wrote in an Instagram post today while sharing an image featuring him and his father in the ring. 

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However, the journey to greatness wasn’t easy for Ward after his father’s death.

Andre Ward relives drug abuse and struggles after his father’s passing

After his father’s death, Ward found himself spiraling into self-destructive behavior. Grieving and burdened by the pressure of providing for his growing family, he turned to substance abuse and drug dealing to cope. “I knew that I was running from it,” Ward confessed, acknowledging how his actions, like smoking and drinking, were masking the deep pain he felt.

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Despite his habits, Ward was aware that he wasn’t living the life he was raised to lead. “I wasn’t raised like this. I shouldn’t be doing this,” he admitted, yet continued down the path of destruction. However, the turning point in Ward’s life was just around the corner—Music promoter, James Prince intervened. Prince had majorly made his name in music but also managed and guided some prominent boxers. 

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Prince, understanding the street life and the weight of Ward’s struggles, saw potential in the young boxer. “His conversation was different,” Ward recalled, noting how Prince’s calm poise stood out in a time of crisis. However, he was still on the streets, it wasn’t until a near-death experience in 2003, after swallowing drugs to avoid police detection, that Ward made the decision to change.

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He turned back to his Christian faith, realizing, “You’re going to have to do God’s way, or it ain’t going to work.” This shift in mindset led him to win the Olympic gold medal in 2004, setting him on the path to boxing greatness. Ward retired from the sport in 2017—undefeated and a legend of the sport. 

That said, with the post, Andre Ward continues to remember where he came from and the people who motivated him to achieve greatness, which he ended up doing through his boxing career. What did you think of Ward’s journey? 

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