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Boxer Muhammad Ali banned

By Nick ZaccardiOct 26, 2017, 8:44 AM EDT
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British Olympic boxer Muhammad Ali was provisionally suspended after testing positive for a banned steroid on April 21, the International Boxing Association (AIBA) said Thursday.

The case is now in the hands of an AIBA anti-doping panel.

Ali, 21, gained attention after qualifying for the Olympics last year because he shares a name with the legendary American boxer.

Ali, who was born in 1996, the year the other Ali lit the Olympic cauldron, lost his opening flyweight bout in Rio.

“When people used to mention about my name, at first I was like, ‘They are at it again,'” Ali said in February 2016, according to the Yorkshire Post. “But now I am just getting used to it.

“It doesn’t bother me, and I have just got to go out and perform and show them that I am half decent. Hopefully I can be half as good as the real Ali one day.”

Ali is a 2014 Youth Olympic bronze medalist and a 2015 European silver medalist in the 52kg division. He lost in the quarterfinals of the 2015 World Championships.

Ali also grew up training in the same gym as 2004 Olympic silver medalist Amir Khan.

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MORE: Last U.S. man to win Olympic boxing gold retires

Andre Ward, last U.S. man to win Olympic boxing gold, retires

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By Nick ZaccardiSep 21, 2017, 12:08 PM EDT
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Andre Ward, the only U.S. male boxer to win Olympic gold in the last 20 years, is walking away from the sport at the top of his game.

Undefeated. A world champion. Arguably the world’s best pound-for-pound fighter.

“All I want to be is an Olympic champion. All I want to be is a world champion. I did it,” a voice appearing to be Ward’s said in an online video.

Today is the first day since 1952 that there are zero active male U.S. Olympic champion boxers. Claressa Shields, gold medalist in London and Rio, is now a professional fighter.

Ward, 33, ended his career without a loss since the age of 13 but said the cumulative effect of boxing for 23 years started to wear on his body. He no longer had the desire to prepare the way he used to.

“My goal has always been to walk away from this sport and to retire from the sport and to not let the sport retire me,” Ward, nicknamed S.O.G. “Son of God,” said on ESPN. “I have that opportunity today.

“I know it’s time. I’ve studied retirements. … How they walked away, who came back and all these different things. I’ve talked to a lot of guys, and they’ve always told me, you’re just going to know when it’s time. Nobody else will know but you.”

At the Athens Olympics, Ward fought in memory of his father, who died of a heart attack in his sleep at age 45, two years before the Games. He blew a kiss to the roof on the medal podium.

“In the second round, I got thumbed in my eyes, and I saw a double [vision],” Ward said on NBC after the gold-medal bout. “I never experienced nothing like that before.”

Ward turned pro and went 32-0, winning eight world titles.

His last fight was a June 17 TKO of Russian Sergey Kovalev to retain his WBA, IBF and WBO light heavyweight titles.

“I want to be clear – I am leaving because my body can no longer put up with the rigors of the sport and therefore my desire to fight is no longer there,” Ward said in a statement on his website. “If I cannot give my family, my team, and the fans everything that I have, then I should no longer be fighting.”

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MORE: Klitschko recalls seeing Ali at Atlanta Olympics

Wladimir Klitschko recalls seeing Muhammad Ali at Atlanta Olympics

By Nick ZaccardiAug 3, 2017, 9:05 AM EDT
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Wladimir Klitschko, the former world heavyweight boxing champion who retired Thursday, smiled when asked to recall his 1996 Atlanta Games experience, saying “the Olympics have changed my life.”

Before going 64-5 as a pro, Klitschko won super heavyweight gold at age 20 at Ukraine’s first Summer Olympics as an independent country. Friday is the 21st anniversary of the gold-medal bout.

“I have great memories,” Klitschko said in an interview two years ago at Madison Square Garden. “Meeting Muhammad Ali. … He was visiting the [athletes’] village, gathering a lot of people. I was one of them. It was exciting to see him in person. I didn’t get a chance to shake his hand.”

Klitschko said that was the first time he was close to Ali. The two Olympic champions met several more times before Ali died June 3, 2016.

Klitschko’s second memory of the Atlanta Games was of the Centennial Olympic Park bombing on July 27.

“One of the memories is the bombing of the disco, where my friends went to, and I was there before,” Klitschko said. “But I left, because I have to be in the schedule and sleep. When I heard the next morning, which was right on the other side of the campus where we were staying, it was really sad. Thankfully, nobody from my team got injured, but they were there.”

Klitschko auctioned his gold medal in 2012 for $1 million, all of which went to his and older brother Vitali Klitschko‘s charity. In a gracious gesture, the buyer reportedly immediately returned the medal back to the Klitschko family after the sale.

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VIDEO: Ali lights 1996 Olympic cauldron