More tragic news for the Beltway Boxing community. And this comes with a very sad story.
On Monday, March 12th in Great Neck, Long Island, NY, a man who was a suspect in a road rage incident was shot and killed. According to The Island Now who quotes an NYPD spokesman, Nassau County police shot and killed the man after he had been on a crime spree that allegedly began in Bordentown, New Jersey, where he allegedly robbed an individual of a vehicle. He later allegedly robbed a 77-year-old man and fled in that man’s car, before striking and killing a 50-year-old man in Brooklyn two days later.
The suspect then allegedly attacked two men with a baseball bat in a road rage incident near the Equinox gym and then refused to drop the weapon when confronted by the officer, the police said. Police opened fire on the suspect and killed him.
The suspect was a former Beltway Boxer named "Magic" Michael Ward, a super welterweight who fought out of Fort Washington, MD in the 1990's. Ward was a promising boxer who was probably best known for, as a 19-year-old, knocking down hall of famer and Beltway legend Sugar Ray Leonard during a sparring session as Leonard was preparing to face Terry Norris. According to published reports, Ward would also knock down another future champion, Meldrick Taylor, during a sparring session in Phoenix.
Ward (24-4, 19 KO's) had a solid career whose biggest victories came against Joe Gatti, the older brother of the late Arturo Gatti (a six round unanimous decision in 1990 in Atlantic City, NJ) and a first-round TKO of Beltway legend Robert "Boo Boo" Sawyer in 1991.
The bout people in the Beltway area wanted to make during the early-to-mid 90's was between Ward and the equally-rising Derrell "Too Sweet" Coley but the bout never materialized. After their careers were over, the two rivals became good friends.
Michael Ward was 46 years old. BATB sends its deepest condolences to his loved ones.
Grew up with Mike in the 80s in Landover Rip Mike
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