“That was back in the days, Acura days, I was a cold dude I’m gettin back to my ways.”
Drake, from Underground Kings
Hopefully, so too is perhaps the greatest fighter to ever come out of the bay area.
To the world you may be one person, but to one person you may be the world. Putting this in perspective somewhat, if a city could be represented by one person, then Oakland means the world to Andre Ward (28-0, 15KO’s). The “Son of God” returned to his holy land this past Saturday night on BET at the Oracle Arena to dismember Paul Smith over 9 rounds in front of 9,016 fans. Real Combat Media provided highlights of the festivities.
A few of those fans included NBA MVP and new world champion of the Golden State Warriors Steph Curry, 49ers QB Colin Kaepernick (who was boo’d terribly), Seattle Seahawk monster RB Marshawn Lynch (who was cheered loudly) and fellow ROC Nation cohort and WBC middleweight champion Miguel Cotto. The setting was electrifying for the most part, as Ward not only showed very little rust in his return, but his conditioning never appeared to be better.
Still, the jury is still out on just how good Ward was the other night, because his opponent was so very bad.
A few years ago Floyd Mayweather made headlines by ripping MMA fighters apart. Among things the neeeeever talkative Floyd had to say in the highlighted clip you should revisit was, “It takes true skills to be in the sport of boxing. Mixed Martial Arts is for beer drinkers. You can’t take my shoes off and take my shirt off and just throw me in a cage… You do that with animals.”
Former British champ Paul Smith (35-6) immediately conjured recollections of Floyd’s infamous video. The bottom line is Smith looked terrible, and gave every indication he simply put down a cup of beer while in the Oracle Arena crowd, took off his shirt, borrowed a pair of shorts, stole some gloves and challenged Ward.
The fighters agreed to a contracted weight of 172lbs, even though Ward last campaigned at a super middleweight 168lbs in the recent past. But Smith and his people actually lobbied for 170lbs, which can’t explain showing up on the scales at an egregious 176.5lbs at the weigh-in. For effect, dude “rehydrated” (if you will) to 185 on fight night.
If you didn’t really cut weight to make weight, and then gain weight the following day, you’re not ready to fight. Smith was fined 60K by the CSAC for his foul weight situation, though Ward was nice enough to give the UK product back his portion of $37,500 (the CSAC wasn’t as benevolent, gladly pocketing Smith’s dough).
Ward decimated Smith from the opening bell with shots about as crispy as the chips in a brand new bag of Lay’s. The fight itself had the look of a sparring session between a world class fighter and a rank club fighter looking to get back into shape. Ward seemed to be striking Smith as if he pretended it was Gennady Golovkin on the receiving end, as Ward was clearly looking for an impressive KO.
His balance, precision, shot variety and ring acumen was all Floyd-esque, and based on the eye test alone, he still looked like no less than the world’s #2 fighter pound-for-pound, even though he’s currently outside of the rankings due to inactivity. But let’s be real- he was in there with Smith, who decided it wasn’t a good idea to even try to slip a punch.
Despite the vintage Jordan gear, golden gloves and glitzy ring entrance lead by Curry, he still somehow appeared to be second fiddle in a city that showed up more because of the Warriors recent championship (Curry got an absolutely ridiculous ovation) than his actual return. Then there was the promotion and programming content, which seemed to revolve more around Jay-Z’s new music streaming service Tidal than the former Olympic gold medalist and super middleweight kingpin.
Almost no media outlet provided coverage of this fight prior, and if Ward was in attendance to capitalize on any Warriors/Cavs buzz during the finals, it was hidden from viewers across the nation. BET wasn’t even interested in a post-fight interview with Ward in the ring, and rather conspicuous in his absence was Jigga.
He really couldn’t show up for Ward’s ROC Nation debut and first foray back into the ring?
The most dramatic thing concerning Ward this past week still remains the titanic statement released by GGG, telling Ward ‘as a man you’re dead to me’ among other things. For a man as proud as Ward is (he isolated himself in a very small one-bedroom apartment to prepare for Smith), all of that becomes personal. For HBO, which has been seeking to build up a clash between Ward and Golovkin as a superfight, this all bodes well for that happening in the near future.
Let’s hope that Ward never reappears in Oakland on corner store milk cartons again and that he takes a major step up in competition. Fight possibilities with Golovkin, Carl Froch, Adonis Stevenson or Sergey Kovalev remain distinct possibilities among others. Then again in the world of Andre Ward, so does a rematch with Darnell Boone.
Stay tuned.
