OAKLAND, California -- As soon as Andre Ward found his stride following his lengthy layoff, the fight quickly came to an end. Ward made a triumphant return to the ring and delighted his home crowd when he stopped England's Paul Smith in the ninth round Saturday night in a nontitle fight.

Ward (28-0, 15 knockouts) was fighting for the first time in 19 months because of a protracted legal dispute with his former promoter, the late Dan Goosen. He dominated from the start against the former British champion Smith (35-6), winning every round on all three judges' scorecards. Smith's corner threw in the white towel to stop the fight in the ninth round with Smith's face covered with blood.

Ward landed more big punches in the eighth as blood started dripping down the left side of Smith's face. The round ended with a stare down between the two fighters to the delight of the partisan crowd of 9,016.

Another cut opened in the ninth as Smith's face was covered with blood before the fight was called at 1:46 of the round on a technical knockout after trainer Joe Gallagher threw in the towel.

"Smith was taking unnecessary punishment," Gallagher said. "Andre kept cutting open that cut over his eye. Blood was pooling over his eye. It was a war we didn't want to continue."

Smith said he thought he broke his nose on Ward's final combination before the fight was stopped.

Some fighters get very upset when the towel is thrown is thrown in, Smith was relieved to have the night come to a close.

"The towel couldn't have come soon enough," Smith said.

Smith weighed in for the 172-pound fight at 176.4 pounds on Friday, and then his weight was 184.4 pounds at a second weigh-in Saturday.

"It was a genuine mistake," Smith said. "I apologized to the team. My fault."