Comments Thread For: Smith Was Relieved To Be Saved From Ward Beating

[BIGPOPPAPUMP]

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.
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[Ray*]

No point in taking a beating with a suspected broken nose and bloody face.

[thack]

No point in this fight other than to clear the cobwebs for Ward, who as it seemed didn't have any.

[Redd Foxx]

Smith is one of these Brits that's too tough to quit, even when he's dead to rights. Ward was really laying into him and even though it seemed as if Smith wasn't trying, I think he kept behind a stiff guard all night because he was getting punished no matter what he did. Ward's a guy that discourages an opponent and Smith was absolutely out of character.

Ward did exactly what he was supposed to do. Get in some ring time, re-familiarize, recalibrate, and put him away in the later rounds just so that no one questions your ability to finish. People shouldn't look too deeply into this one other than to say Ward doesn't seem to have suffered from the injuries or the layoff.

[firstborn]

Smith is one of these Brits that's too tough to quit, even when he's dead to rights. Ward was really laying into him and even though it seemed as if Smith wasn't trying, I think he kept behind a stiff guard all night because he was getting punished no matter what he did. Ward's a guy that discourages an opponent and Smith was absolutely out of character.

Ward did exactly what he was supposed to do. Get in some ring time, re-familiarize, recalibrate, and put him away in the later rounds just so that no one questions your ability to finish. People shouldn't look too deeply into this one other than to say Ward doesn't seem to have suffered from the injuries or the layoff.

Ward and his camp were wise to have a tune-up before jumping into the ring with a top notch opponent. Honestly, Ward could probably use another tune-up to shake off a little more ring rust. I attended the fight live and was surprised to see Smith land clean/flush on Ward's chin on more than one occasion.

[SlySlickSmooth]

Ward and his camp were wise to have a tune-up before jumping into the ring with a top notch opponent. Honestly, Ward could probably use another tune-up to shake off a little more ring rust. I attended the fight live and was surprised to see Smith land clean/flush on Ward's chin on more than one occasion.

It would be nice to see Ward fight three times a year but I doubt it. I'd like to see Ward vs Gilberto Ramirez but I doubt Arum lets that happen to a possible cash cow.

[Mick6]

Sorry if this is a ****** question but I'm not a boxer so I'm serious... Why would Ward need a fight "shake off the rust"? How was this fight different than a sparring session? Ward looked great.

[BarnBurnerBrawl]

IMO the difference is in sparing even if your going hard isn't the same as a real fight ,where someone is seriously trying to hurt you by taking your head off .

[parrish duke]

The reason why Ward got hit flush a couple times, was because he was sitting down on his punches, Smith was beat by the 5th - Ward needed to get punched in the face a couple times - your punch resistance goes down when you take long layoffs