Freddie Roach says one man would have ended Andre Ward’s unbeaten record

Rocky Marciano, Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Joe Calzaghe are regularly cited when talking about the great undefeated retirees of boxing, but Andrew WardThe flawless output of this sport deserves equal recognition.

The 2004 Olympic gold medalist has barely put a foot wrong as a professional under Virgil Hunter. While Darnell Boone’s fourth-round knockdown of Ward in 2005 and his first victory against Sergey Kovalev in November 2016 reminded him that he was not invincible, Ward repeatedly found a way to prevail when it mattered most.

Three months after leaving no room for debate in the Kovalev rematch, Ward called time on his career (32-0, 16 KO) and never returned. Now 41, the former two-weight world champion is a respected analyst and podcaster and recently revisited his past during an interview with Carl Froch, the man he defeated to unify the super middleweight division in 2011.

Froch, like so many others, didn’t have the tools to defeat Ward – but according to legendary trainer Freddie Roach, one man may have had them.

Roach was recently interviewed by Social boxing to pick winners in a series of fantastic matches, one of which paired Ward with fellow super middleweight Joe Calzaghe.

“Big fight. Calzaghe, I was preparing Steve Collins to fight him and all of a sudden Stevie decided to retire. He wasn’t happy to fight this guy.

It’s a very tough fight because you have a tall champion, with good reach, with very good combinations. But Calzaghe is undefeated, never beaten, I want to say draw but I will say Calzaghe. I think Calzaghe could dig a little deeper.

Collins ultimately relinquished his WBO super middleweight title, paving the way for Calzaghe to face his late replacement Chris Eubank. Calzaghe won on points that night, although he has since described it as the toughest fight of his career – a reminder of the resilience, according to Roach, that would have made him a formidable problem even for the undefeated Ward.