By Scott Gilfoid: WBA super middleweight champion Andre Ward (27-0, 14 KOs) could be facing 2nd tier fighter Paul Smith (35-5, 20 KOs) next on June 20th at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California. Smith, 32, has lost his last two fights to WBO super middleweight champion Arthur Abraham. Smith bellyached after the first loss to Abraham in September of last year, so he was given a rematch earlier this year in February.
Unfortunately for Smith, he was beaten again in pretty much the same style as the first fight. At that point there was no way that they could fight each other again.
I mean, even if Smith complained about the decision, the World Boxing Organization couldn’t just let Abraham keep fighting the same guy over and over and over again with the same outcome each time. It’s bad enough that Abraham has fought Robert Stieglitz three times in the past three years with them going back and forth.
“Smith is who we want I’m told it’s a done deal,” Ward’s trainer Virgil Hunter said via the Dailymail.co.uk. “But it won’t be for Andre’s best even though it will be over the 12-round championship distance.”
The only reason why I can’t see Ward’s WBA title on the line for the Ward-Smith fight is because Smith is now no longer ranked in the top 15 by any of the sanctioning bodies after his back to back losses to Abraham. I guess the World Boxing Association wouldn’t sanction the fight due to Smith being a 2nd tier fighter now that he’s out of the top 15.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnZBPqW15IU
Smith will give Ward a good warmup for a fight against Carl Froch if Ward can get Froch and his promoter Eddie Hearn to agree to a fight outside of Nottingham in the UK. Hearn wants the fight with Ward to take place in Nottingham, but Ward wants nothing to do with fighting in Nottingham. Ward’s talented friend Andre Dirrell fought Froch in Nottingham in 2009 and he ended up with a loss for his troubles. I don’t think Ward wants the same treatment.
“Ward would have gladly taken Carl straight away,” Hunter said about Ward willing to fight Froch in the UK but not in Nottingham.
As for Froch, it looks like he’s going to hang out and wait for a fight against Julio Cesar Chavez Jr later on this year. Chavez Jr has a fight this Saturday night against light heavyweight Andrzej Fonfara in a catch-weight fight at 173 pounds at the StubHub Center in Carson, California.
Smith will really be up against it in a fight against a talent like Ward. I really can’t see Smith being able to last more than four or five rounds at best. Smith went the distance with Abraham twice, but that was because Abraham only had enough stamina to fight hard for 45 seconds to 1 minute of every round. He wasn’t putting pressure on Smith the way Ward will be if he gets him inside the ring on June 20th. This could be a massacre. Hopefully Smith can give Ward some badly needed rounds because this is a rust-ridding fight for Ward, as he hasn’t fought since 2013. He needs rounds and bad.
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