War of The Words: Andre Ward in Lawsuit, A Champion Without A Title Chasing GGG
By Robert Brizel, Head RCM Boxing Correspondent
Andre Ward has been inactive since November 2013, when he decisioned Edwin Rodriguez over 12 rounds to retain his Super World Super Middleweight title at Citizens Business Bank arena in Ontario, California. Having already beaten Carl Froch and Mikkel Kessler, the roadway to another title fight has been sidetracked by Ward’s lawsuits with Goosen Tutor Promotions, after successful surgery in January 2013 to repair his injured right shoulder.
Contractual disputes are nothing new to boxing and other professional sports. Ward had signed a contract extension in April 2011 with Goosen Tutor and co-promoter Antonio Leonard who put up money 50-50 to resign Ward ($275,000 each, total of $550,000) after both associations bought out Roy Jones Jr.’s Square Ring Promotions. Leonard did not get paid his share for the Edwin Rodriguez fight, yet the California State Athletic commission upheld Goosen Tutor’s contract with Ward, spawning Ward’s state and federal lawsuits. Ward also lost an arbitration hearing.
The danger Ward has is his career is going to fall off the map in the near future if he remains inactive too long. Ward’s contract with Goosen Tutor expires on November 8, 2016. His title was stripped from him and given to Carl Froch in the United Kingdom.
Ward may have to move up to light heavyweight as none of the top super middleweights want to fight him anyway. This possibility would leave Wards free to fight either Adonis Stevenson, or the winner of Sergey Kovalev versus Bernard Hopkins. A 2004 Olympic Gold Medalist in Athens, Ward must play ball and make an agreement with Goosen Tutor to fight again soon, or his career, like the injured Paul Williams, will be over due to inactivity.
Abel Sanchez, Golovkin’s trainer, believes Golovkin’s rising stock and marketability means the inactive Ward can no longer demand terms. After fighting only once in 23 months, Ward remains the top ranked super middleweight in the world, but a man who doesn’t fight, beyond a certain point, just isn’t worth anything to HBO and other television Pay-Per-View outlets because he cannot be profitably sold to the public.
There is a 1925 song written by Walter Donaldson and Gus Kahn, later sung by Nat King Cole, in which we’ll change the word she to he, so for Goosen Tutor Promotions it goes: “Yes, sir, Ward’s our baby. No sir, we don’t mean maybe. Yes sir, Ward’s our baby now.” Contractual disputes in boxing are like clouds in the sky, just so many of them, we look up and we wonder why.
COMMENTS
English