Fourteen-month layoff? No problem.
Young, hungry, undefeated opponent? No problem.
A challenger who comes in two pounds over the weight limit? No problem.
Not if you happen to be Andre Ward, who easily defeated Edwin Rodriguez in a super-middleweight bout on Saturday.
Even though Ward is one of the top two pound-for-pound fighters in the world today (the other being Floyd Mayweather Jr.), there were question marks hovering over the WBA/Ring magazine super-middleweight champion as he entered the ring for the first time since his spectacular kayo win over then-light-heavyweight champion Chad Dawson in September 2012. At that point, Ward was The Man in both divisions, even though he declined to claim Dawson?s title after Dawson dropped down a class to fight him.
Then a shoulder injury sidelined Ward, and the subsequent inactivity led to a slow fade from the forefront as fighters like Mayweather, Danny Garcia and Gennady Golovkin commanded fans? attention during 2013. The Rodriguez fight was something of a comeback for Ward, even though he was neither retired nor defeated.
Rodriguez was no ?gimme? opponent. Coming into the fight with a record of 24-0, with 16 stoppages, he was the kind of opponent who could take advantage of any rust that may have crept into Ward?s fighting apparatus during the layoff.
The first indication that Rodriguez might not be ready for Ward came during the weigh-in, when Edwin scaled two pounds over the 168-pound super-middleweight division limit. So even if he managed to beat Ward, Rodriguez would have left the ring the same way he entered it ? without the title belts.
The second indication was Ward?s complete mastery of his young opponent, beginning after the echoes of the bell that started the first round faded. Ward?s domination was similar to what Mayweather displayed in his whitewash of Saul ?Canelo? Alvarez in September. Canelo didn?t have a clue as to handle Mayweather, and Rodriguez was just as oblivious against Ward.
A fourth-round grapple that resulted in points deductions from both fighters by Referee Jack Reiss provided the only excitement in the fight. Rodriguez was game, and might have beaten other top super-middleweights like Mikkel Kessler or Lucian Bute, if not Carl Froch. But Edwin simply wasn?t good enough to extend Ward.
So, Ward has emphatically answered all questions concerning the effects of his layoff. The question that remains is ? what fighter between 160 and 175 pounds can beat him? The answer remains ? no one.
Well, almost no one. The ageless Bernard Hopkins certainly has the savvy to solve the fistic Rubik?s Cube that is Andre Ward. But Hopkins is chasing the quixotic dream of a catchweight bout with Mayweather. That bout makes no sense. Ward-Hopkins does, even though the fight itself would be as hard on the eyes as Toronto Mayor Rob Ford in a Speedo.
