At the peak of his career, Andre Ward was considered the second-best, pound-for-pound, after Floyd Mayweather. However, in the years 2010-14, the former super middleweight champion took very few fights. A decade after those silent years in the ring, now, the inactive fighter has opened up about what went wrong, and why he sought time away from the ring.

In 2014, a Los Angeles Superior Court dismissed a plea to terminate his contract with promoter, Dan Goossen, who spearheaded his career for 10 years. It was the fighter’s fourth such attempt. Speaking candidly about the ordeal that almost saw the fall of his illustrious career, Ward also spoke vividly about the role the media played during the fiasco.

Andre Ward Details the “hardest times” of his life

On the ‘All the Smoke’ Podcast, Ward laid his side of the story in his infamous Goossen fiasco. Elucidating how hard it was for him to grapple with the situation, especially when the media too wrote against him, ‘Son of God’ noted, “It is really one of the hardest times of my life cause I can’t really talk, it’s an open litigation. Promoters, they got the media, so you see the headlines, like oh what would you rather fight in the courtrooms than fight in the ring. Like what sense do that make.”

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In 2014, the court upheld the contract Goossen had with the fighter. The latter had sought its termination on the grounds of it violating the federal Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act, which instates that promoters need to disclose all forms of income generated by their fighters. The fighter’s lawyers also noted that his newly renewed contract violated California Labor Code Section 2855 which says a contract for personal services may not be enforced beyond 7 years.

In the wake of the ruling and a shoulder injury, Ward was out of the ring majorly for a few years, and completely absent in 2014. Speaking about those years, especially, 2014-15, “…even to this day, people are trying to give me credit for my career, but you know you lost two years, it’s like nah I ain’t lose to years, I gained two years. Like I preserved my body for two years, I learned a lot, I grew a lot, and I got my place at that negotiating table.” Despite being quiet in the sport, he remained the highlight of the media in those years.

The Media Glare and its narrative

The fighter outlined how a huge section of the media disagreed with the legal course he took against the promoter. “The money going out, the money coming in, like you think I want to do this and the media made it into I’m being selfish, I’m being a bully, I want more money. And I’m wasting my career, it’s like dude do you realize, fighting is what I do, do you realize that this is how I provide for my family…”

“You Can’t Fight Every Battle”: After 13 Years of Boxing and Hall of Fame Induction, Andre Ward Makes Startling Confession About Politics in the Sport

He argued, “When you making that kind of fight, you’re not just fighting the individual, you’re fighting the media. You fighting the narrative, and the deal that I did with Roc Nation, I was with them for three years before I retired, I made more money in those three years than I did the ten years previously.” He signed with Jay-Z’s Roc Nation Sports in 2015, taking the first fight under the banner. Then he went on to fight for 3 more years until he retired in 2017.

What do you think of his story through court cases and the media? Let us know in the comments section below.

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