Pound-for-pound king and unified light heavyweight world titleholder Andre Ward has retired from boxing.

The 2004 Olympic champion attributed a physical toll and waning desire to his decision to walk away at the relatively young age of 33.

“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.”

Ward last fought in June when he stopped Sergey Kovalev in a Las Vegas rematch to defend the titles he had won in a unification bout with the Russian seven months earlier.

Andre Ward vs Sergey Kovalev

Those pay-per-view fights came after a host of injuries and a promotional spat that conspired to limit him to four fights in the previous 50 months.

During his pro career, which began after winning Olympic gold in 2004, he held titles at super-middleweight but moved up a weight division and unified the WBA, IBF and WBO light-heavyweight belts in 2016.

He retires with a 32-0 record with 16 Kos after being widely recognized as the world’s top pound-for-pound boxer.