A-Ward packs a punch

Micky Ward is enjoying a second career in boxing without the pain.

Ward has been on a whirlwind of travel and notoriety since the release of the 2010 motion picture “The Fighter.” The movie starred Mark Wahlberg and was a cinematic biography of Ward’s life in and out of the squared circle.

Ward added another postmark to his incredible run when he was presented with the Boxing Legacy Award during last night’s 10th annual Tradition at the Garden. Ward was part of the Sports Museum’s class of 2011, along with Celtics [team stats] legend Larry Bird, Patriots [team stats] cornerback Ty Law, Bruins [team stats] winger Willie O’Ree, Red Sox [team stats] third baseman Mike Lowell and Boston Marathon pioneer Bobbi Gibb.

“No I don’t have to get punched anymore, this is great,” Ward said. “But I’m still the same guy from Lowell. I’m not changing anything. Honestly this is all great and I’m doing a lot of traveling and motivational stuff and things like that, but inside I’m still me.”

Ward is just the second boxer to be honored at the Tradition. The other is former welterweight champion Tony DeMarco, a North End native who reigned during boxing’s golden decade of the 1950s.

Although their place in boxing is separated by two generations and their ancestors came from opposite ends of Europe, Ward and DeMarco experienced nearly identical careers. DeMarco joined Ward inside the reincarnation of a building he routinely sold out during his peak years as a fighter.

“Tony is a very good friend, a great guy, a tough guy and one hell of a fighter,” Ward said. “I’m so happy just to be spoken in the same breath as Tony DeMarco. He is a guy I know should be inducted into the Boxing Hall of Fame. He was a champ when there were only eight champs.”

Ward won the WBU light welterweight crown by stopping Shea Neary in London in 2000. Ward’s 10-round decision over Emanuel Barton was Ring Magazine’s 2001 Fight of the Year. But his legacy was cemented by a trilogy with Arturo Gatti, the late Canadian boxer-puncher with a threshold for pain equal to that of Ward.

In the first bout against Gatti, Ward won by majority decision. Gatti took the next two on the scorecards.

Ward and Gatti engaged in Ring Magazine’s Fight of the Year in both 2002 and 2003, leaving Ward as the only boxer to be involved in three straight fights of the year.

“They don’t come any tougher than Micky Ward, he fights hard with a lot of action and good combinations,” DeMarco said. “I think Micky Ward would have been good in any era. There are individuals in boxing linked with each decade and Micky Ward had his decade.”