Andre Ward vs. Paul Smith

[jujigatame]

Ugh, what a lame matchup. Not sure if it's better or worse than Ward/Periban. Probably about the same level of competitiveness either way.

The only way this is acceptable matchmaking is if it somehow sets up Ward/Froch II before the end of the year.

[CheckHook]

I hope Ward gets all the criticism he deserves for this match up, but I've got no doubt there'll be people defending this fight.... I'm sure we wont see the same level of hate we recently saw when Khan signed to fight Algieri though. We had about 4 or 5 different threads running with 10s of people bashing Khan for that fight endlessly. Lets hope we see a lot more for Ward, since this fight is much worse. Good luck to Paul Smith, but this isn't a fight I will be watching.

[Rodian]

he deserves a soft touch

[Freedom2013]

Should Ward be taking on an opponent coming off two losses, and who was KOed early by Groves?

There are other fairly safe opponents. For example, Julius Jackson would be better.

[moogie101]

How long has he been out of the ring now? This is exactly the sort of fight he should be having after such a lengthy lay-off.

What else were people expecting? Maybe he should have jumped up in weight & took on both the Klitschko brothers in a handicap match.............

[littlepug]

Pleased for Paul smith for getting some decent paydays at the tail end of his career, quite a turnaround really

[SNG]

Pleased for Paul smith for getting some decent paydays at the tail end of his career, quite a turnaround really

I just wish he could spark Ward.

[jujigatame]

How long has he been out of the ring now? This is exactly the sort of fight he should be having after such a lengthy lay-off.

What else were people expecting? Maybe he should have jumped up in weight & took on both the Klitschko brothers in a handicap match.............

Or, you know, someone in the top 10 of the division he's been champ of for 3 years.

[digzee]

How long has he been out of the ring now? This is exactly the sort of fight he should be having after such a lengthy lay-off.

What else were people expecting? Maybe he should have jumped up in weight & took on both the Klitschko brothers in a handicap match.............

V. Klitschko came back after 4 years and fought the best opponent possible, Mayweather had 2 years away and fought JMM, It would be less then 2 years since Ward last fought and he fights a guy who has NEVER won a fight above domestic level and got knocked out by 2 guys who were still prospects at the time and is coming off of 2 losses to a old Euro level guy.

Ward is a P4P top 5 guy and should have standards. I hope nobody watches this farce its disrespectful to the fans.

[ajwesty13]

Pleased for Paul smith for getting some decent paydays at the tail end of his career, quite a turnaround really

Been a good servant and he's getting a good payment for this so don't blame him

[crusader]

How long has he been out of the ring now? This is exactly the sort of fight he should be having after such a lengthy lay-off.

What else were people expecting? Maybe he should have jumped up in weight & took on both the Klitschko brothers in a handicap match.............

V. Klitschko came back after 4 years and fought the best opponent possible, Mayweather had 2 years away and fought JMM, It would be less then 2 years since Ward last fought and he fights a guy who has NEVER won a fight above domestic level and got knocked out by 2 guys who were still prospects at the time and is coming off of 2 losses to a old Euro level guy.

Ward is a P4P top 5 guy and should have standards. I hope nobody watches this farce its disrespectful to the fans.

Not to mention that at his fitful pace over the last 3 years any bout during that period could arguably be labeled a comeback. He's lost a fair amount of time and I think he should try to make a statement to help compensate for that.

He's apparently in the gym-year round, he's not old, and despite the inactivity it hasn't been THAT long (see Vitali) since he's been away. Given this and that he's among the P4P elite, I don't see why he needs a soft touch like Smith for his return; Smith's first fight with AA flatters him even though plenty had AA winning and it shouldn't obscure that he was blown out in two by Groves, outclassed and stopped by a novice Degale, and handily beaten by AA--who won about two rounds against Ward--in the rematch. His biggest wins were at British-level and even then he had several close fights.

[digzee]

How long has he been out of the ring now? This is exactly the sort of fight he should be having after such a lengthy lay-off.

What else were people expecting? Maybe he should have jumped up in weight & took on both the Klitschko brothers in a handicap match.............

V. Klitschko came back after 4 years and fought the best opponent possible, Mayweather had 2 years away and fought JMM, It would be less then 2 years since Ward last fought and he fights a guy who has NEVER won a fight above domestic level and got knocked out by 2 guys who were still prospects at the time and is coming off of 2 losses to a old Euro level guy.

Ward is a P4P top 5 guy and should have standards. I hope nobody watches this farce its disrespectful to the fans.

Not to mention that at his fitful pace over the last 3 years any bout during that period could arguably be labeled a comeback. He's lost a fair amount of time and I think he should try to make a statement to help compensate for that.

He's apparently in the gym-year round, he's not old, and despite the inactivity it hasn't been THAT long (see Vitali) since he's been away. Given this and that he's among the P4P elite, I don't see why he needs a soft touch like Smith for his return; Smith's first fight with AA flatters him even though plenty had AA winning and it shouldn't obscure that he was blown out in two by Groves, outclassed and stopped by a novice Degale, and handily beaten by AA--who won about two rounds against Ward--in the rematch. His biggest wins were at British-level and even then he had several close fights.

Its an absolute embarrassment of a fight. Plenty on here (current scene) complained about Brooks mandatory (maybe they don't understand this word), even though he was coming back from a slashing, but don't say nothing about this fight, double standards.

Lets hope Ward doesn't suffer a stabbing or were be watching him fight journeyman!

[sucracristo]

got knocked out by 2 guys who were still prospects at the time

the degale stoppage was ridiculous so i'm assuming you didn't see that fight, and both
groves and degale are world level, so whatever level you had them pegged at the time
doesn't matter.

and is coming off of 2 losses to a old Euro level guy.

for a major world title, the first a highly disputed decision, at least on the cards.

the promise being made is that ward will fight 3 times this year, so this first fight
is just to get some rounds in, but it's a bad matchup. if anything, paul smith should
go down to middle and fight andy lee for the wbo or whoever has the ibf. i'd almost
rather see his brother callum take a shot at ward but they may be lining him up for
dirrell.

[davie]

As a British fight fan, I still cannot get even remotely excited about this, not even from the point of view that "good ol' Smigga's getting the big shot" or "it might set up the Froch fight"

He's not even European class,
He's 5th, possibly 6th best super middleweight in the UK,
he's not even the best super middleweight to have spent 9 months in his own mother womb for feck sake.
He's been Sparked out by the number 2 and 3 super middleweight in the uk
and in the only world title challenges he has had (and I'm buggered if I know how he got them), he got beaten narrowly, then comprehensively by one of the weakest ABC world champions in circulation today

this fight should not be happening. None of that is Smiths fault and you can't knock him for taking it.
But he should not be mixing at this level and Ward and his team should be ashamed for taking this.
He's not even good enough to be a knock the rust off type of opponent for a top 5 P4Per

[digzee]

got knocked out by 2 guys who were still prospects at the time

the degale stoppage was ridiculous so i'm assuming you didn't see that fight, and both
groves and degale are world level, so whatever level you had them pegged at the time
doesn't matter.

and is coming off of 2 losses to a old Euro level guy.

for a major world title, the first a highly disputed decision, at least on the cards.

the promise being made is that ward will fight 3 times this year, so this first fight
is just to get some rounds in, but it's a bad matchup. if anything, paul smith should
go down to middle and fight andy lee for the wbo or whoever has the ibf. i'd almost
rather see his brother callum take a shot at ward but they may be lining him up for
dirrell.

I don't know if your being serious when you say a "major world title" because those fights should have been for the Euro title at best, don't dress it up as something it isn't.

DeGale had only 8 fights when they met and he was not a world level at the time, you probably consider every fighter with less then 10 fights with potential world class.

So you think Paul Smith deserves a shot at the middleweight title now? Never won a big fight in his life but is apparently good enough to get title shots left right and centre

[man]

dusting off some rust against someone who just
had two title fights. nothing wrong with that
whatsoever.

[ikorolev]

dusting off some rust against someone who just
had two title fights. nothing wrong with that
whatsoever.

Yes, provided that Andre's next fight will happen this year and an opponent will be a real deal.

[jujigatame]

You can "dust off some rust" in the gym without milking ticket buyers and TV outlets for money.

[Monte Fisto]

Great for smith! Nice warm up for ward, what else do you expect after such a lengthy lay off?

[KBB]

Ward may be deserving of a tune up but fights like these sure make you miss the days of fighters like Trinidad (who'd take time off and come back and fight any top fighter).

[zorndeslammes]

Ward isn't bilking any networks out of money because RocSports is paying BET to televise this joke of a fight. Andre Ward is a great boxer and a lousy fighter. Yeah, he's been off awhile. You know why? Because he wanted this kind of fight and Dan Goosen wasn't willing to lose millions to make it happen for him (says so in the legal dox). I guess Jay-Z is - good to see a sucker is still born every minute.

[ikorolev]

Did you know that they are fighting at 172 ?

[digzee]

Did you know that they are fighting at 172 ?

Are you sure? As a previous poster said Smith is a small SMW.

[man]

You can "dust off some rust" in the gym.

what i've been told by real boxers: no, you can't.

[sucracristo]

I don't know if your being serious when you say a "major world title" because those fights should have been for the Euro title at best, don't dress it up as something it isn't.

like 20 of abraham's last 30 fights have been for major titles, you mental case.
they're recognized by the hall of fame as world title fights.
he's ranked 2 by the ring and this site and if you have him outside the top
10 in the world you escaped your straight jacket and made it online to type lunacy.
like it or not, there are 4 major titles, meaning if you are in the top 10 there is a
40% chance you have one of them, and for a voluntary defense you probably
aren't going to defend against one of the legit top 10 guys. also, the ebu title
DOES earn you a top 10 world ranking by the wbc, so if paul smith is euro title
worthy then that by definition makes him a legit voluntary defense.

i already said this is a bad matchup and i never said smith should get handed anything.
he just needs to beat a ranked middle to get the shot i mentioned and take a look
at the ibf and wbo's top 15. this site and ibo still have him top 30 and if he was in with
anthony dirrell last night he would have a title. he's a legit top 15 guy at 168 and i'd say
better at 160