Andre got it doe agian. After a 19 month lay off he came back to the ring to demolish another opponent. With Smiths crew throwing in the towel in the ninth round. As with his previous four fights he did conditioning training with coach Aaron Thigpen of Gamespeed. Here are a few personal pics I took at ring side.
By Brian Mazique ,
Welcome back, Andre “S.O.G” Ward (28-0, 15 KO). After a 19-month layoff, the WBA super middleweight champion returned to the ring with a dominant ninth-round TKO over Paul Smith (35-6) on Saturday night in Oakland, California. It wasn’t a title defense, but Ward looked like a champion against a clearly inferior opponent.
…Ward pounded on Smith with combinations from multiple angles. Smith’s face broke up under Ward’s shots, and his corner mercifully threw in the towel to save their fighter from unnecessary punishment.
….S.O.G had quite the cheering section. TheScore NBA has Steph Curry of the Golden State Warriors carrying one of Ward’s belts in the ring:
…..Smith looked like a handpicked opponent, but he gave a valiant effort to make the fight with Ward semi-competitive. He landed a good right hand on Ward in the eighth round, but that was the extent of his highlights……
With a piston-like jab, superior movement and well-placed counterpunches, Ward essentially went through a mild workout at Smith’s expense.
