Undefeated super middleweight champion Andre Ward hasn’t fought since his November 2013 lopsided unanimous decision over Edwin Rodriguez and a contract dispute between him and his co-promoter Dan Goossen is to blame.
After losing a court battle to terminate his contract last week, which keeps his contract valid until November 2016, Ward will have to fight under Goossen despite how he feels about him and the contract.
Ward feels he has been misrepresented in the press as the one who is the bad guy in this situation and gave me his thoughts on the whole ordeal at the post-fight presser of the Floyd Mayweather-Marcos Maidana championship bout Saturday in Las Vegas.
Widely considered the No. 2 pound-for-pound best fighter in the world, Ward explains he’s been out of the ring because no fight has been offered to him by Goossen.
“I’m in the middle of a lawsuit, but even in the midst of the law suit I’ve been prepared to fight since December and the promoter has not produced a fight,” Ward explained. “That is one of many reasons of why I’m trying to get out of my contract and move on to something fresh and something new is situations like this.”
Ward explained that he thinks that Goossesn has behind the scenes discussions with the media to monitor what gets out to the public about this ordeal; something he thinks is making him look bad.
“The promoter likes to have off the record conversations that control the on the record narrative and I don’t get the luxury to talk to reporters off the record,” Ward said. “So it’s easy to paint a certain picture, it’s easy to have smoke screens and try to create bad press against me.”
In the past there have been a few boxers who have severed ties with their promoters amid doubts of the community only to prosper in the end and that is what Ward hopes to do himself.
“I’ve followed the sport for many, many years, since I been a baby; not just the in the ring stuff, the business side,” Ward stated. “When Floyd Mayweather felt that there was a market for African-American fighters he was told that he was crazy. He got out of his contract and Floyd Mawyweather is doing OK right now.
“They’ve been calling Bernard Hopkins crazy for the last 20 years for the decisions he’s been making and Bernard Hopkins is doing OK right now. They called Roy [Jones Jr.] crazy when he started Square Ring Promotions, they said it’s never going to work, Roy had a phenomenal career.”
As Ward has been promoted Goossen, Ward mentioned he’s also been promoted by Antonio Leonard during this time as well, which is ended up creating the lawsuit that is in play today.
“So I’ve studied these things I understand these kinds of things happen but the reality of the situation is this: we have many issues, but the root of the issue is this, this is something the promoter doesn’t want to talk about and I can guarantee that he won’t come on the record and refute. Dan Goossen has never been my sole promoter,” Ward said. “If you look at the track record of my career he’s never been my sole promoter. It was Goossen’s company and Square Ring. My co-promoter Antonio Leonard bought Square Ring out, the first contract ran out and I signed an extension. Both of those guys put up money to resign me, 50-50. I took Dan Goossen’s money and I took Antonio Lenoard’s money.”
After Ward’s bout with Rodriguez late last year, Ward claims that Leonard was never paid for it and that event is what brought Ward and Leonard to sue Goossen.
“I can’t in good conscious walk away from this man [Leonard], take his money take his bonus and know that he’s not getting paid. To know that he’s not being compensated and he’s being ignored and just continue to go on like things are OK.” Ward stated. “So that’s the root of this issue that’s how this all got started. And as we started to peel things back, we realized some of the laws that were broken, some of the statutes that were broken and the things that weren’t right. But that’s a friend of mine that’s a business partner of mine and those two have a lawsuit right now in state and federal court because he didn’t get paid for the Rodriguez fight. I’m not OK with that.”
Even with the pending lawsuit Ward said that he reached out to Goossen to let him know he still wanted to fight while everything gets sorted out, but there has been no possible bouts sent his way.
“I’ve been ready to fight since December. I fought in November, the lawsuit was filed I think in December sometime and right after that we sent an email saying, ‘Hey we got litigation, but let’s continue to fight,’” Ward said. “He [Goossen] agreed and there hasn’t been one offer to fight and I’ve been ready since December; I’m in shape right now.
“What’s being said right now is contrary to what’s really happening. So you see all these stories regurgitated over and over, but that’s not the facts, but I can live with it because that’s not the truth.”
Follow Mick Akers on Twitter: @MickAkers
