Former pound-for-pound star Andre Ward has revealed the hardest punching opponent that he ever shared the ring with.
He reigned as the unified world champion at 168lbs between 2009 and 2015, defeating the likes of Carl Froch, Chad Dawson, Mikkel Kessler and Arthur Abraham before making the move up to light-heavyweight.
Ward defeated Russian star Sergey Kovalev in November of 2016 to capture the unified WBA, WBO and IBF light-heavyweight titles to become a two-weight world champion, repeating this feat in their rematch just seven months later to cement his place in boxing folklore.
He announced his retirement from the sport just a short while after his second victory over Kovalev, walking away from the sport with an unblemished record of 32-0 to his name.
Having taken on a number of big hitters in his career, Ward revealed in an interview with Boxing News that two-time world title challenger Edison Miranda as the hardest puncher that he ever faced in a surprising admission.
“The hardest puncher was definitely Edison Miranda – no doubt about that.”
Ward faced Miranda during the earlier stages of his professional career, defeating the durable Colombian via unanimous decision at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California.
Miranda also shared the ring with Lucian Bute, Arthur Abraham and Tony Bellew in his career, which ended with a record of 37 wins and 13 defeats, with 32 of his victories coming by knockout
As for Ward, although he has been out of the ring for over eight years, rumours have began to circulate about a potential return, after it was revealed that the 41-year-old had expressed an interest in a shock clash against two-time unified world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua.
