By Terence Dooley

Liverpool’s Paul “Smigga” Smith had a miserable weekend in the U.S.A. after failing to make the 172lbs catchweight limit for his meeting with the comebacking Andre "S.O.G." Ward—he came in at 176.4—and then losing by ninth-round TKO when his trainer Joe Gallagher quite rightly threw the towel in.  Ward’s accurate punch picking had turned Smith's face into a bloody mess and he suffered a broken nose—the first of his 41-fight career (35-6, with 20 KOs).

The 32-year-old Liverpudlian had no answer for the 31-year-old Californian—who was fighting in front of his Oakland crowd and was in the ring for the first time since 2013—and the Super middleweight champion's class showed throughout the bout as he handed Smith a third consecutive loss following his back-to-back world title defeats to WBO holder Arthur Abraham.

Ward (28-0, 15 early) will hope to stay busy now that he has shed some ring rust whereas Smith is left contemplating his future after telling the Manchester Evening News that Ward was just too classy on the night and that his weight gain was down to water retention picked up while en route to the U.S.

He said: “I had a lot of water retention when I came over and as soon as I started training nothing was coming off.  It wasn't the best week and I'd have liked to have come over a bit earlier so it's definitely (a) lesson learned.”

“He's unbeaten for a reason and after round one I knew I was in with someone extremely talented.  I didn't think he was the biggest puncher but he was sharp and accurate with a good boxing brain.  In the ninth round he landed a good shot that broke my nose and I had a lot of problems from that point.  My nose has never gone before so I always used to joke about always having a straight nose but that's gone now.”

Joe Gallagher, Smith’s trainer, had seen enough by this point, hurling in the towel to save his fight from more punishment.

In contrast, Ward seemed to enjoy himself while shedding his ring rust, he wants Carl Froch or a big name light-heavyweight next.  “I could get down to fight at 168,” revealed Ward when dissecting his performance and analysing his next move.

“I weighed 170 in camp, and I could have lost another two.  If I did that, I could fight Froch or any other super-middleweight.  If I go up in weight, I can fight (Sergey) Kovalev.  I could fight (Adonis) Stevenson, but there would be politics involved in that.  I will go home and talk to (trainer) Virgil (Hunter) and ask him what he saw and what we have to fix.  Then we will go from there.”

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