Andre Ward Beat Carl Froch with Broken Hand

When Andre Ward easily outpointed Carl Froch to unify super middleweight titles last Saturday in the final of the Super Six World Boxing Cla#sic, he did so with a left hand that was broken in two places, an MRI exam revealed Thursday.

After Ward defeated Froch, he disclosed that he had injured his left hand in one of his final sparring sessions about a week before the f!ght.

Then Ward said he badly hurt the hand again in the sixth round of the f!ght. He won in large part because he relied so heavily on his left hook, which he repeatedly landed to Froch's head.

After the initial injury, Ward had an X-ray, in which no breaks were detected. But an MRI in his hometown of Oakland, Calif., on Thursday revealed multiple fractures in the third and fifth metacarpal bones.

Ward (25-0, 13 KOs) initially injured his hand a little more than a week before the f!ght against England's Froch (28-2, 20 KOs).

"The X-ray came back negative. I just knew it hurt like nobody's business," Ward said. "We had to go (through) with the f!ght. I was extremely concerned the whole week of the f!ght, but I knew I couldn't pull out. It was inevitable that it would get banged up again in the f!ght and that is my lead hand. I felt it all through the f!ght, but I bit down. I continued to do what I had to do.

"Early on the adrenaline was working. But in the sixth round, when I hit him on top of the head, that is when I really hit a wall in terms of the pain. But I had no choice. We got through it."


Ward, 27, will be in a cast for two weeks and then go through rehabilitation. His next f!ght date is not set, but he won't return until at least next spring.

"I should be fine," said Ward, who tweeted photos of his hands, and of his left in a cast. "We're looking at April or May. I don't think this is going to be major setback."

Ward, a 2004 U.S. Olympic gold medalist, went through Showtime's 26-month tournament undefeated, winning a world title. He was never seriously challenged, including by Froch in the final at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J.

"After he looked at the MRI, the doctor said his hand was broken before the f!ght," promoter Dan Goossen said. "He said he could tell by the fracture that it had happened a couple of weeks ago, not in the f!ght. Obviously, he went into the f!ght thinking it wasn't fractured because the X-rays alone were not be able to detect the fracture.

“He kept icing it and icing it, but he was determined to f!ght no matter what. But this is what the great ones do -- they find a way to get through something like this. It's another reason why I think Andre is destined for superstardom.” -- Promoter Dan Goossen on Andre Ward

"It's funny, because when Andre went to (a different) doctor after he first hurt the hand, he said, 'I don't care if my hand is broken, I'm f!ghting.' But we didn't know at the time it really was broken," Goossen said.

"When I spoke to Andre on Thursday, he said, 'Thank goodness we didn't know.' "

Goossen said he had some concerns about the hand leading into the f!ght. He had looked at it when they were in New York for the final news conference a few days beforehand, and he noticed that it was swollen.

"He kept icing it and icing it, but he was determined to f!ght no matter what," Goossen said. "But this is what the great ones do -- they find a way to get through something like this. It's another reason why I think Andre is destined for superstardom. He overcomes everything."

When no fracture was detected after the X-rays when he first hurt it, the injury was diagnosed as a soft tissue injury.

"I hit one of my sparring partners on top of the head, and it was a good shot," Ward said. "We kept sparring a couple of more rounds and didn't think much of it. I told my team that it feels weird, almost like a fracture."

Ward said when he first visited the doctor and had an X-ray the week before the f!ght, he was surprised that no fracture was seen.

"When it first happened it felt like a fracture," Ward said. "That's the last thing I wanted to think about going into the f!ght. Everyone around me was trying to be positive.

"Overnight, the hand just blew up. So when the doctor told me there was no fracture I was shocked. I just couldn't believe it. He said it was a soft tissue injury and just deep bruise. I lived with an icepack on my hand for the week leading up to the f!ght, but it hurt when I put on the gloves even just to hit the mitts. The way it was looking and feeling, I was very concerned the night before the f!ght."

He said he was so concerned he had cut man Jacob "Stitch" Duran come to his hotel room to do a run-through on how he would wrap his hands the following night, just to make sure he could deal with it. Ward said it was very uncomfortable, but that he was resigned to f!ghting.

In the f!ght, the left hand was open for Ward to use, so he kept firing it despite the pain.

"I just tried to keep using it and other times, I would wince if I hit him with a good shot," Ward said. "But I've seen f!ghters like Floyd Mayweather f!ght with one hand.

"As a f!ghter, you already know that that day is going to come for you. I knew that I was going to have that day, so I had no choice but to keep using the hand. I simply had no other choice."

Dan Rafael is the boxing writer for ESPN.com. Follow him on Twitter @danrafaelespn.

Andre Ward had broken hand during win over Carl Froch - ESPN

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HAHAHAHA Wow
froch must be hurt by this news
ward absolutely k#lled him with a broken hand .

this mofo is a bad man

he dusted froch with a broken hand and won 9 clear rounds.........this is embarra#sing.

the 2 judges that scored it close are some [!]s.

That's going to k#ll Froch's rep if this story blows up.

I'm pretty sure he knew it was broken though, he just didn't want to prolong this Super Six bull!! anymore. That tournament was a !!ing curse.

Lol, silly Brit thought he had a chance against a real American warrior! Never that

[pic] Really not about what they are or where they are from. Andre Ward is just a better f!ghter.

I'm not sure if I believe this fully because typically boxers shake their hand or wence when landing punches on a broken or fractured hand. Didn't see him doing that at all. I think he's just saying this partly because he hates froch and wants to embara#s him even further.

From Wards twitter.

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