Andre Ward's Blueprint to Return to Pound-for-Pound Glory

The “Son of God” knows the way to the top.

In fact, until a maddening series of injuries and promotional issues snuffed out three years of high-profile momentum, Andre Ward had already all but scaled the sorts of pound-for-pound heights most typically reserved for guys named Money, Pacman and Dr. Steelhammer.

The 2004 Olympic gold medalist hit his stride as a pro within half a decade and, thanks to Showtime’s conveniently timed Super Six World Boxing Classic, bagged a series of wall-worthy trophies from 2009 to 2011. He went on to add the scalp of then-reigning light heavyweight champ Chad Dawson to his collection in 2012 but had fought just a dozen rounds in the subsequent 33 months until Saturday night.

But unless you had perused his bio beforehand, you probably would have never guessed.

Though the now-31-year-old Ward was faced with a foe—sturdy but limited Englishman Paul Smith—chosen specifically to accentuate his positives, the comprehensive nature of the pasting he applied to the twice-failed title challenger’s face still warranted the sorts of boffo reviews he’d always received.

“No ring rust is showing,” blow-by-blow man Barry Tompkins raved on the BET broadcast. “You have to consider who he’s in there with, nevertheless, no rust is showing. He’s back, there’s no question about it. Now the caliber of opposition will step up, but there’s no question the stage is his.”

Boxing writer Adam Abramowitz put it this way:

An instant after Tompkins completed his lofty critique, a towel came in from Smith’s corner to signal traditional surrender at 1:46 of Round 9. And with it, as the golden-throated HBO alum had implied, was the indication that Ward had checked off the first box in his quest to regain his former P4P position.

There was no live in-ring interview following the victory, but Tompkins claimed the still-reigning WBA champion at 168 pounds had indicated during fight week that his future would be in his home weight class, even though the bout with Smith was contractually agreed to at a catchweight of 172 pounds.

Should that be the case, the idea of a return to the pinnacle isn’t a hard one to fathom.

Former Ward victim Carl Froch has shown a lean toward retirement, but he’s still ranked No. 2 by the WBA for the time being and has discussed the notion of a rematch of the 2011 Atlantic City bout—in which he lost seven, seven and 10 rounds on the scorecards—provided it comes on his U.K. home turf.

“Carl wants absolutely every advantage possible to fight Andre Ward,” Froch’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, told the Guardian. “If he’s going to fight Andre Ward, now’s the time to do it—he’s been out for two years. I think (Froch) will fight again in September.”

A repeat defeat of The Cobra would be enough to crack most pound-for-pound top 10 lists, and such a win would simultaneously stoke the rhetorical fires for a match Ward himself has been pondering out loud, against rampaging IBO/WBA middleweight kingpin Gennady Golovkin.

Ward, in his downtime role as an HBO analyst, has seen the unbeaten Kazakh from a ringside vantage point and stepped out of character recently to suggest Golovkin is actually pining for matches with naturally smaller men like Miguel Cotto and Canelo Alvarez at 160 rather than stepping up himself.

“He's going to cross his fingers that Canelo or Cotto take a fight with him,” Ward told Rick Reeno of BoxingScene.com. “He's literally begging these guys, who are smaller guys, to step in the ring and fight with him, but you can't have this reputation that you want to claim without fighting the best.”

Golovkin has built a brand on being the sport’s “most avoided fighter” and claimed in the past that he’d go anywhere from 154 to 168 pounds to entice a high-profile opponent. His promoter, Tom Loeffler, told Bleacher Report last month that the biggest hurdle between his man and Ward was financial.

“If a fight with Andre Ward generated $10 million for Triple-G, there would be no discussion and we can make that fight next,” he said. “The problem is it won't. Triple-G said he would fight anyone from 154 to 168 about two years ago. His focus is on unifying the middleweight titles and would go up or down if there is a lucrative fight.”

Golovkin occupies slot No. 4 on the Ring magazine’s most recent P4P list, so if Ward manages to first make the fight and then win it, his ascension is a shoo-in. And, with the retirement of the No. 1 man on that list—Floyd Mayweather Jr.—due to come by the end of 2015, the door to the penthouse suite is open.

“I know there's another level I can be at where I'm not thinking about anything,” Ward said at Saturday’s post-fight press conference. “There's another level of sharpness and being crisp that I have.

“I felt like I did good tonight, but I know I have better.”