It has definitely been a good week for the Oakland and the Bay area after the Golden State Warriors defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers to win the NBA Finals and they are continuing to ride that wave of success. Oakland’s Andre Ward defeated Britan’s Paul Smith in their catch-weight bout!
In what better fashion to win in front of your home crowd–including NBA superstars like Steph Curry–than what Andre Ward did. Oakland fans were in attendance to watch the fight go down at Oracle Arena, where their Warriors were just crowned champions of the NBA for 2015.
Ward put on a dominating performance for the crowd by winning every round against Smith. The Roc Nation fighter improved his already unblemished record to 28 career wins with 15 knockouts! Ward spoke on his match following the fight saying, “I have a great coach and he told me take your time and the knockout will come. I could see his legs getting a little wobbly.” Unfortunately, the knockout never came as Smith’s trainer called the fight off in the 9th round.
I guess Smith’s corner did not want to see their fighter touch the match and ironically, Smith was glad the fight was called, “The towel couldn’t have come soon enough,” he said after the fight. You have to respect a guy who stays classy in defeat–unlike Adrien Broner who said he would take Shawn Porter’s girl out to dinner after losing his fight.
Ward is coming off of a 19 month hiatus but I would guess the 31-year old is feeling pretty good about his W.
Source: BBC
