Dan Goosen beat Andre Ward in court again today, #Goosen 4-0 vs Ward. Todays ruling strengths Goosen's defamation suit vs #Ward! #boxing
— Rick Glaser (@RickGlaser1) August 21, 2014
Do you get boxing businessman/Twitter superstar Rick Glaser’s joke? Super middleweight champion Andre Ward today lost another court battle with his promoter, Dan Goossen of Goossen-Tutor, so his record in the courts is 0-4. Like a boxing record, but in the courts, because they’re fighting… nevermind.
You could also say Ward is on the ropes, that this is a knockout blow or simply that he’s fighting in the courtroom rather than the ring. This stuff practically writes itself.
What you need to know is that Ward, who was once thought of by many as the next big American boxing star, really wanted to get out of his contract with Goossen. Goossen doesn’t want to let him go, so the case went to the California State Athletic Commission, which ruled against Ward. Today, the Los Angeles Superior Court backed that verdict, which was based on a point of the California Labor Code (Paragraph [a] of Section 2855, for you #legalheads playing at home).
But if you thought it’s all sweet now and Ward can go back to fighting once a year instead of no times a year, then you’d be wrong. There’s more legal trouble on the horizon, with Ward filing suit against Goossen for violations of the Muhammad Ali Act (specifically that Goossen didn’t properly disclose how much money he was making from Ward’s fights) and Goossen is countering with a $10 million defamation suit.
If all that made you a little cross-eyed, here’s the takeaway: Andre Ward ain’t fighting anytime soon.
