Forrest Ward (born January 11, 1949) is a retired amateur

heavyweight Heavyweight is a weight class in combat sports and professional wrestling. Boxing Professional Boxers who weigh over are considered heavyweights by 3 of the 4 major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Federation, the Wo ...

boxer Boxer most commonly refers to: * Boxer (boxing), a competitor in the sport of boxing *Boxer (dog), a breed of dog Boxer or boxers may also refer to: Animal kingdom * Boxer crab * Boxer shrimp, a small group of decapod crustaceans * Boxer snipe ee ...

Early life

Ward was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1949.

Amateur career

In 1966 Ward won the

New York Golden Gloves The New York Golden Gloves boxing tournament was considered by many boxing aficionados as one of the most elite Golden Gloves titles, along with the Chicago Golden Gloves. Named for the small golden gloves given out to the winners of each weigh ...

175-lb Open Championship by defeating Houston Williams of the Police Athletic League Howard Houses in the finals. In 1967 Ward won the New York Golden Gloves Heavyweight Open Championship after beating Thomas Connelly in the finals. Later that year Ward won the Pan American Heavyweight Championship. Ward won the 1967

National AAU Heavyweight Championship Below is a list of National Amateur Boxing Heavyweight Champions, also known as US Amateur Champions, along with the state or region which they represented. The United States National Boxing Championships bestow the title of United States Amateu ...

, beating Clay Hodges by a split decision in the semifinals and

Ken Norton Kenneth Howard Norton Sr. (August 9, 1943 – September 18, 2013) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1967 to 1981, and held the WBC world heavyweight championship in 1978. He is best known for his fights with Muhammad Ali, i ...

in the finals.

Pro career

Ward had a disappointing and short career as a professional, which began in 1967 after a banner year as an amateur propelled him to professional territory. After six professional fights, he stepped up in class to face Chuck Wepner in 1968 and lost after being dropped three times in the 7th round, triggering a three knockdown stoppage. After four consecutive wins, he faced Bill Drover and lost via a

technical knockout A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, a ...

. Ward retired after the loss.

References

External links

* 1949 births Boxers from Brooklyn Heavyweight boxers Winners of the United States Championship for amateur boxers Living people American male boxers Boxers at the 1967 Pan American Games Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States Pan American Games medalists in boxing Medalists at the 1967 Pan American Games {{US-boxing-bio-stub