Andre Ward has filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court of the Northern District of California against his promoter, Goossen Tutor Promotions and Dan Goosen. The lawsuit is premised upon the Muhammad Ali Act.
The lawsuit, filed on August 4th cites violations made by Dan Goossen which violate the federal law which was put in place to protect boxers from exploitation inside and outside of the ring. Namely, Ward accuses Goossen of not providing him with the proper payout information prior to an event which is required pursuant to the Ali Act.
The Complaint (found here) states that “Since the inception of Goosen’s tenure as Mr. Ward’s promoter in 2004, and continuing to the present, Goossen has repeatedly and systematically violated all disclosure requirements under the Ali Act by failing to timely provide Mr. Ward with full and complete disclosures.” The Complaint cites several specific fights where Goossen did not provide Ward the necessary payout information which would have included: 1) the amounts of any compensation or consideration that a promoter has contracted to receive from such match; 2) all fees, charges, and expenses that will be assessed by or through the promoter on the boxer pertaining to the event, including any portion of the boxer’s purse that the promoter will receive, and training expenses; 3) and any reduction in a boxer’s purse contrary to a previous agreement between the promoter and the boxer or a purse bid held for the event. (per Ali Act 15 U.S.C. sec 6307(c).
It was not until the spring of 2013 that Ward’s manager demanded the information from Goossen. According to the Complaint, Goossen failed to comply and when he did provide information it was “woefully inadequate.”
The Complaint requests that Goossen “provide a full accounting of all revenues and expenses related to any boxing matches in which Mr. Ward participated and Goossen served as promoter including, but not limited to, barter arrangements, multi-bout television and venue agreements, or any other boxing events originating from the relationship with Mr. Ward.”
Notably, the parties have gone to Arbitration in California this past spring with Goossen prevailing. However, Ward did not even show up to the Arbitration as it was his counsel’s contention that the Arbitration was not valid. The California State Athletic Commission ruled that the Arbitration this spring was valid since there was no previous objection. As far as the substantive issue at Arbitration goes, the parties disputed the duration of the promotional agreement. Due to a shoulder injury which sidelined Ward for a year, the question was whether the promotional agreement should be extended due to the injury to Ward. CSAC held that Ward was uncooperative when he returned from injury in seeking out a fight and thus the agreement’s original expiration was extended 14 months.
CSAC Arbitration Decision Ward-Goossen
Payout Perspective:
The lawsuit is just the latest in the ongoing saga with Andre Ward and his promoter. For what it is supposed to be, the Muhammad Ali Act has not had many boxers use it and prevail. We will see based on the information that will undoubtedly surface in the discovery process. It will be interesting what explanation is given by Goossen as it relates to the purported failure to provide Ward with payout information. Then again, the question of why it took so long for Ward to report this violation is something that will likely come up too.
MMA Payout will keep you posted.
Boxing is a dirty business, all the major promoters are about the same as far as being scumbags! I tend to side with the fighters, but a lot of them are just too stupid to understand business and contracts. Lets see what happens.
The ali act should also include mma….cor the protection if fighters
Hahaha. Yeah, Ward is arguably the best boxer in the world p4p and he can’t sell a ppv, so he has to sue his promoters. HAHAHA!!!
Ufc fighters should sue dw for slave labor hahahaha…cheapie promotion
Look at tops squirm!! He hates the facts!! He’s a sinking ship!! HAHAHA!!!
And in the meantime, Ward stays out of action. It’s a disgrace. He’s wasting the prime years of his career.
Ward still makes more then any UFC clown wannabe loser fighter. Seriously who is there anymore in the UFC??? Maybe 2 or 3 fighters who are actual world class fighters in the ufc the rest are grinders who will be pumping gas shortly after their 4 fight careers. Goosen boxing doesn’t really have any ppv boxers, ppv is controlled mostly by GB,Floyd and TR . Andre will have his day for a huge fight. What does a UFC fighter have to look forward to? Nothing! Oh wait a coaching spot on tuf that no one watches or cares about bahahahah Give it up Dana and the ufc are a paper tiger of promises that lead to nothing!
HAHAHAHAHA!!! WARD DOES NOT MAKE AS MUCH AS THE HIGHEST PAID MMA FIGHTERS!!! He makes 1-2m per fight because he is a low draw who never has headlined a ppv.
More of your delusions Sal da Queen!!!
yea you moron 1-2 million is triple what most UFC fighters make a fight no matter what you say ughh
here is a link of the peanuts UFC fighters make. I seriously thought it was more!
http://mma-manifesto.com/ufc-fighter-salary-database/salary-main/ufc-career-fighter-earnings.html
Yeah, you fucking idiot, 1-2 million is a 1000x more than what most BOXERS make a fight no matter what you say you dumb idiot!!
You have no idea what ufc fighters make you stupid shithead. You don’t even know how the contracts work.
You can’t even read you dumb fuck:
“Also, these are only the reported salaries plus Fight of the Night, Knockout of the Night and Submission of the Night bonuses that have been made public. Many top performing fighters get additional bonuses paid out to them that aren’t reported, plus the top guys get a cut of the pay-per-view buys for events that they headline (not to mention every fighter makes sponsorship money). Also, many athletic commissions don’t report fighter’s salary info, so for those we’ve estimated a fighter’s purse based on what they have earned in their other fights. Fighters with some estimated purses are marked with a * in the database. This data should still be considered very close to accurate, as most fighters’ purses remain rather steady from fight to fight (unless they ink a new contract in the meantime).”
Anyone who follows mma is aware that the ppv points for top billing and championship fighters past 145lbs, is what makes up the majority of the pay. Guys like Georges St Pierre have been paid up to 5 million per fight. You don’t know basic information on this subject and you expose yourself for a complete idiot every time you post.