I had seen Ward fight a few times in the late 80's and didn't think too much of him. In 1990 I met one of his nephews (my friend's father married one of Ward's sisters) who knew I was a boxing nut and he told me I should watch his Uncle Micky (Ward). He gave me the back story on Ward as well as Ward's older brother Dlck Ecklund's story. I never told him I had already seen Ward and wasn't impressed. Ward's next fight was against Harold Brazier, Ward lost a decision. Ward lost his next 3 fights by decision... Charles Murray, Toney Martin and Ricky Meyers. All 4 of these fighters were very good in my opinion, no shame in losing, but something wasn't right with Ward. Ward needed surgery on his hands. I was trying to like this guy but he wasn't doing enough to win. Did a police officer really injure Micky Ward's hand like in the movie? Yes, but the injury didn't happen exactly as the movie depicts it. It also happened on May 9, 1987, before Micky's mismatched fight with Mungin, not after it. Like in the movie, Micky Ward was arrested for interfering with the arrest of his brother Dlckie. Unlike the film, the arrest did not stem from Dlckie having just been caught in the act running a prostitution scheme. Prior to the arrest, Dlckie had actually been inside the Cosmo club (Cosmopolitan Cafe on Market Street) with his brother. Dlckie exited the club to supposedly defend someone he knew who was getting beat up outside, only the cops say that instead of seeing Dlckie helping the guy, when they arrived Dlckie was punching and kicking him. In the movie, a policeman cracks Micky Ward (Mark Wahlberg) on the hand with a nightstick when his hand is on the hood of a patrol car. However, during the actual scuffle outside the Cosmo club, Ward was pulling officers off his brother when his hands were cuffed behind his back and then hit repeatedly with a flashlight, breaking his left hand and bruising the right. The resulting injury would plague Ward throughout his career. During the arrest, the police had also split Ward's head wide open, which took seven stitches to fix. - Irish Thunder Did a cop really yell, "He's a fighter, break his f@#king hand!" during Micky's arrest? Yes, though it may not have been taken exactly word for word. Micky recalls that when the cops had him on the ground, he heard one cop yelling, "Break his f@#king hands! Break his f@#king hands!" Micky Ward's cousin, Mike Lutkus, who was there that night, says that as the cops were hitting Micky, someone observing yelled, "Hey, don't do that! That's Micky Ward." One of the cops yelled back, "F@#k Micky Ward," and another officer added, "Yeah, break his hands so he can't fight again." - An HBO documentary and a long story in Boxing Illustrated about Dlck Ecklund and all of his problems sparked my interest. I wanted Ward to do well in his comeback. Validating the stories I had heard from my friend. Ward came back in 1994 after almost a near 3 year layoff. His hands were repaired. He won 9 in a row, 7 by KO including KO wins over Louis Veader and Alfonso Sanchez. He also beat Veader by decision in their rematch. His left hook to the body was awesome! He lost by 3rd round TKO to Vince Phillips for the IBF JWW World Title in 1997. The stoppage was bullshlt and the Boston crowd showed how they felt about it by throwing trash in the ring. Ward did not get a rematch though. He lost a decision to a prime Zab Judah in 1998. He won his next 4 by KO including a great fight vs. Reggie Green (KO10) and a nice win over Shea Neary (8th round KO) for the WBU JWW World Title. He dropped a decision to Antonio Diaz and it looked like the end was near for Ward. He came back with 2 wins including a great fight vs. Emanuel Augustus (W10) in the 2001 Ring Magazine fight of the year. He lost a TD (5th round) to Jesse James Leija due to a Leija cut (they should have fought again). In his last 3 fights he fought wars vs. Arturo Gatti and even won their first fight. 17-6 (13) during this stretch. His fights vs. Phillips and Leija were very unfortunate. He didn't look very good vs. Judah or Diaz but he didn't get hurt either. His losses to Gatti are something to be proud of. His win over Gatti was unforgettable.
I like Mickey. He was very limited but he was the perfect example of a fighter who should be repaid and respected for being a gentleman, a sportsman, for respecting the sport and giving fans his heart. My one knock on Ward was that he would always dig himself so deep into a hole. Now, this made for some amazing drama like in the Green, Sanchez, and Augustus(which I thought Emmanuel won) fights where Ward had come from behind with something dramatic to pull it out. But, often times he would just march forward absorbing punches and fall way behind. One thing that Ive always found interesting is that he has always been lauded for his left hook to the body but if you watch his feet he often switched southpaw to deliver it. Its one of the strangest things Ive ever seen but it was darn effective. He knew how to whack to the guys body. I hope hes doing good because he always seemed like one of the nicest guys in the sport. The type of guy you just want to root for.
It is a strange thing, but serious power can be generated when you sometime switch stances. I'm orthodox, but when I switch to a southpaw stance I can generate some good power when I throw a right to the body. Tyson used to do something similar with his uppercuts If I recall. :good
He was a very good fighter who if he had started off his career with the right trainers and right management along with staying injury free could have been something special. As it was he had a respectable ( but not great ) career. He had a handful of wins over a few notable opponents, gave some exciting performances and was stopped only once on cuts..
when i first looked at the thread title, I thought he died. LOL. Then, I actually processed the dates. Whew.
I liked Ward. Your post offers some facts I hadn't previosuly known, like the hand problems. I think though some of the fights he lost in the late 80s early 90's he would have lost anyway, good hands or not. He fought some high quality opposition and lost to guys that were just better than him, like Murray and Brazier. One thing the Movie got wrong was exagerating the size difference between him and Mike Mungin. Mungin was a welterweight, but not a big welterweight. He had also done most of his fighting in the 140 lb division. I also think Phillips would have beaten him cut or no cut.
