by David P. Greisman

Super middleweight champion Andre Ward’s latest legal move against promoter Dan Goossen and his Goossen Tutor Promotions is a lawsuit filed in federal court alleging violations of the Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act.

The lawsuit was filed Monday in the U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, Oakland Division, according to legal documents obtained by BoxingScene.com

Ward is accusing Goossen of violating the Ali Act by not making timely disclosures between 2004 and 2012 of all compensation or consideration Goossen was receiving from or in relation to the fight. He also accused Goossen of not making timely disclosures of any purse reductions, charges and expenses that would be coming out of Ward’s pay.

The lawsuit claims as examples that Goossen had not complied with the Ali Act disclosures prior to being paid for Ward’s fights with Sakio Bika in 2010, Arthur Abraham and Carl Froch in 2011, and Chad Dawson in 2012.

“Furthermore, in the one and only instance where Goossen did provide timely Ali Act disclosures to Mr. Ward, in connection with a fight he was promoting in 2013, such disclosures were woefully inadequate, failing to comply with even the most basic provisions of the Ali Act,” the lawsuit claims.

Ward is asking the court for damages, including any fees Goossen earned from Ward through allegedly wrongful means, for an accounting of any fees Goossen received while promoting Ward’s fights, and for the repayment of Ward’s attorney fees and costs.

“Mr. Ward has suffered economic injury as a result of Goossen’s repeated violations of the Ali Act because if Goossen had timely and fully disclosed all compensation and expenses in connection with each bout to Mr. Ward, Mr. Ward would have had full and complete information sufficient to determine whether he was receiving the purses to which he was entitled for each bout, or to negotiate a higher purse for each fight, if necessary,” the lawsuit states.

Ward has not been successful in his previous attempts to part with Goossen. He also has not fought since November 2013, when he topped Edwin Rodriguez to move to 27-0 with 14 knockouts.

Pick up a copy of David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsamazon or internationally at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsworldwide. Send questions/comments via email at fightingwords1@gmail.com