Ward was a Gold Medalist at the 2004 Summer Olympics in the Light Heavyweight division. He was named fighter of the year by Ring Magazine in 2011. Nicknamed S.O.G. (Son Of God) Ward has been ranked #6 by Yahoo Sports, as #7 by Sports Illustrated and #5 by The Ring. He is of both Irish and African American descent. Andre Ward earned $1.85 million when he fought Sullivan Barrera in June 2016. He earned $5 million fighting Sergey Kovalev in November 2016. He earned a career-high $6.5 million guaranteed when he fought Sergey Kovalev for a second time in June 2017. On September 21, 2017, Andre announced that he was retiring from boxing at the age of 33. Ward is expected to continue working as a TV boxing analyst.