By Scott Gilfoid: After getting blasted out in nine rounds last night by WBA super middleweight champion Andre Ward (28-0, 15 KOs) in Oakland, California, Paul Smith (35-6, 20 KOs) says that Ward isn’t that big of a puncher.
Smith, 32, didn’t say who he’s been in with that is a bigger puncher than Ward, but he obviously feels like Ward isn’t a huge puncher. Just so you know, Smith’s nose was broken in the fight, and that was a first for him.
(Photo credit: Tom Hogan – Hoganphotos/Roc Nation Sports) By Scott Gilfoid: In a total mismatch, WBA super middleweight champion Andre Ward (28-0, 15 KOs) really had his way tonight in stopping an out of shape and badly outclassed Paul Smith (35-6, 20 KOs) by a 9th round stoppage at the Oracle Arena in Beautiful Oakland, California.
Ward hit Smith at will and looked like he’d never been away. Smith’ corner tossed in the white towel of surrender in the 9th round.
(Photo credit: Tom Hogan – Hoganphotos/Roc Nation Sports) By Scott Gilfoid: England’s Paul Smith (35-6, 20 KOs) tried his best, but he didn’t have talent to compete with WBA super middleweight champion Andre Ward (28-0, 15 KOs) tonight in their bout at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California.
Coming off of a long 19-month layoff, Ward calmly picked the 32-year-old Smith apart with beautiful pot shots like a surgeon operating on a patient. Smith’s face was bleeding red blood from the brutal right hands, left hooks and jabs that Ward kept piercing him with in each round. It was just incredible to watch Ward’s mastery in the ring.
(Photo credit: Tom Hogan – Hoganphotos/Roc Nation Sports) By Scott Gilfoid: Poor Paul Smith (35-5, 20 KOs) failed to hit the 181 pounds at today’s 11:00 a.m. secondary weigh-in for his fight tonight against Andre Ward (27-0, 14 KOs) at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California.
Smith came in at 184.4lbs, according to Dan Rafael of ESPN. This was 3.4lbs more than the 181lb limit that he was allowed to rehydrate to for secondary weigh-in. As such, Smith will lose an additional $15 thousand from his dwindling purse. Ward ad Smith had an agreement that they couldn’t come in over 181 for today’s 11am secondary weigh-in.
(Photo credit: Tom Hogan – Hoganphotos/Roc Nation Sports) By Gav Duthie: Shortly after the confirmation that Paul Smith 35-5 (20) would be fighting Super Middleweight supremo Andre Ward 27-0 (14) the Liverpudlian confessed he would have fought Wladimir Klitschko for the money on offer. This suggested to me that this was no more than a retirement fund for Smith and not a fight he actually believed he could win.
On the news that Smith has weighed in at 176.4lbs (4.4lbs over the contracted limit) I’m not sure what to make of it. He will be fined a substantial fraction of his purse which makes the big payday less lucrative.
(Photo credit: Tom Hogan – Hoganphotos/Roc Nation Sports) By Scott Gilfoid: Andre Ward (27-0, 14 KOs) doesn’t know if Paul Smith (35-5, 20 KOs) intentionally came in overweight during Friday’s weigh-in or not, but he’s definitely not happy about it. Ward suspects that Smith came in overweight as a ploy to gain some kind of strategic advantage for their fight tonight at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California.
Whatever the case, Ward sees Smith as unprofessional and he intends on whipping him bad tonight. Ward says that if the 32-year-old Smith had told him about his weight problems weeks ago, they could have increased the weight for him. But instead, Smith didn’t say anything about it and came in at 176.4lbs at the weigh-in, which was 4.4lbs over the 172lb catch-weight limit for the fight.
(Photo credit: W. Williams) By Scott Gilfoid: In what has to be interpreted as a lack of discipline on Paul Smith’s part, he came in 4.4 pounds over the 172 pound catch-weight limit on Friday at the weigh-in for his fight on Saturday night against WBA super middleweight champion Andre Ward (27-0, 14 KOs) at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California.
It’s unclear how much of Smith’s purse he’ll be giving up by coming in over the catch-weight limit. You have to imagine that it’s a substantial portion of his purse.
Ward was his usual professional self in coming in at 171.8lbs, in easily making the 172lb catch-weight limit. I just don’t know what happened to Smith (35-5, 20 KOs) though. The guy fights at 168, and should have had no problems making 172, but it looks like he slacked off and didn’t train as hard as he should have.
(Photo credit: Tom Hogan – Hoganphotos) By Scott Gilfoid: Well it looks like WBA super middleweight champion Andre Ward (27-o, 14 KOs) won’t be taking it easy on his overmatched opponent Paul Smith (35-5, 20 KOs) on Saturday night in their catch-weight fight at 172 pounds. Ward, 31, says he’s going to be looking to impress the fans with a tremendous performance against the 32-year-old Brit when he gets him inside the ring in front of a large crowd at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California.
Ward has been out of action for 19 months since his last fight in 2013, and he obviously has a lot of rust that he wants to get out of his system. If Ward is planning on scoring a knockout in this fight then he should look to wait until the later rounds in order for him to get in some badly needed work.
(Photo credit: PHOTO CREDIT: Tom Hogan – Hoganphotos/Roc Nation Sports) By Scott Gilfoid: Paul Smith (35-5, 20 KOs) plans on doing to WBA super middleweight champion Andre Ward (27-0, 14 KOs) what has never been done to him before when they face each other on Saturday night in their catch-weight fight at 172 pounds at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California.
Ward, now promoted by Roc Nation Sports, won’t have his WBA 168 pound title on the line for the fight, as they’ll be fighting at light heavyweight. It’s not a big deal given that Smith won’t have to take weight off for the fight. Smith is often kind of fleshy looking, so it won’t be a problem for him to keep a little more water weight on for the fight.
(Photo credit: Tom Hogan – Hoganphotos/Roc Nation Sports) By Scott Gilfoid: Callum Smith, the brother of Paul Smith (35-5, 20 KOs), says Smith is confident of beating WBA super middleweight champion Andre Ward (27-0, 14 KOs) in their catch-weight fight at 172 pounds on Saturday night at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California.
Callum says Smith’s two fights with WBO super middleweight champion Arthur Abraham showed that he belongs at the top tier fighting the best guys. Unfortunately for Smith, he lost both times to Abraham, who many boxing fans see little more as a paper champion due to his talent and the limited opposition he’s faced since winning the strap off of what some fans see another paper champion in Robert Stieglitz. The fact that Smith couldn’t even beat a limited champion like Abraham doesn’t reflect too well on his talent.