Boxing

Super middleweight champ Andre Ward just took a $10 million shot to the chin from his promoter ... who says Ward destroyed his good name by accusing him of stealing.

Dan Goossen just filed a defamation lawsuit against his prize fighter in L.A. Superior Court in response to the Ward's suit last week. Ward, the #2 pound-for-pound boxer (behind Mayweather), sued Goosen ... claiming he never handed over details on how much money Ward's fights earned during a 9-year period.

Something called the Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act ... requires promoters to fork over financials in a timely manner.

Goossen says Ward's suit is a smear campaign, intended to "assassinate" his good standing in the boxing community. According to the docs, obtained by TMZ Sports, Goossen says the whole Ali Act allegation is a lie.

Antonio Tarver is making his comeback to boxing next month at age 45 and his son will be there to celebrate ... and also because he's on the same fight card!

As TMZ Sports first reported, Tarver was released from jail on March 5 and immediately hit the gym so he could re-start his boxing career and make the money he needs to pay off his $200,000 gambling debt.

Tarver's rep tells us ... Tarver will fight Johnathon Banks in San Antonio on September 19 and his son, Antonio Jr., will be on the undercard. The rep says he is in talks to nail down a TV deal for the fight too.

As for Banks ... he's 13 years younger than Tarver and has a record of 29-2 with 19 wins by knockout.

Everyone knows Floyd "Money" Mayweather Jr. leads a lavish lifestyle, but this is INSANE -- video of his assistant giving him a bath ... and it's no big deal to Floyd.

The clip is straight out of "Coming to America" -- Money has a female assistant sponging down his back as he sits fully nude in a bubble bath ... brushing his teeth!

Floyd posted the vid on Instagram Thursday morning ... which, unfortunately, means it's limited to 15 seconds. He added the caption, "This is how I get my day started, everyday. - MR. MY LIFE IS THE SH*T."

Paul George suffered one of the most horrific sports injuries in recent memory and his season is over before it started ... but he appeared in good spirits during a hospital visit from Floyd Mayweather.

PG sustained a compound fracture of the tibia and fibula, underwent surgery to repair it, and will have to work his tail off just to get back on the court in 2015.

If you haven't seen the injury ... AVOID THE VIDEO AT ALL COSTS ... it's horrific. But if you must ...

Current heavyweight champ Wladimir Klitschko and ex-champ Shannon Briggs went at it in a Miami restaurant in a scene straight out of Rocky III -- and now we have the video.

TMZ Sports broke the story … Klitschko was enjoying a bowl of pasta at Mama Mia's Italian restaurant on Friday when Briggs walked in and started taunting Wlad by eating food out of his bowl.

Ex-heavyweight champ Shannon Briggs went toe-to-toe with Wladimir Klitschko in the most insane way -- but did it in flip flops -- and ended up landing himself in the hospital with an injured foot.

According to Shannon ... he saw Wlad eating at a restaurant in Miami, walked up to him and had the balls to start eating food right off his plate! Briggs says Wlad got pissed and poured out a glass of water on him.

Briggs slipped and fell because he was wearing flip flops ... he claims, and also because one of Wlad's boys was rushing him.

Of course Briggs has been hounding Klitschko -- earlier this week he interrupted the champ's training session, repeatedly called him a coward ... and tried to taunt him into a fight.

Briggs says he went to the emergency room with cuts on his foot and leg from broken glass ... but won't need stitches.

We've called Klitschko's camp ... no word back yet.

T.I.'s wife Tameka "Tiny" Cottle tells TMZ Sports ... she's ready to end the war with Floyd Mayweather ... after a feud that already led to a bloody brawl at a Vegas burger joint.

You know the backstory ... T.I. confronted Mayweather at Fatburger back in May and a huge fight broke out. Floyd later said T.I. was mad because the rapper thought he had sex with his wife.

Both Floyd and Tiny had denied hooking up -- and said they were just friends -- but a short time later, Tiny blew Mayweather off on the red carpet at the BET Awards ... and it appeared the friendship was over.

But this week, we asked Tiny if the two would ever bury the hatchet -- and judging from her answer, she's ready to stop the fighting and finally move on.

Former heavyweight boxing champ Shannon Briggs says his hostile encounter with Wladimir Kitschko this week was 100% REAL ... telling TMZ Sports he LOATHES the guy and wants to set up a fight, STAT.

Footage of Briggs crashing Wladimir's workout in South Florida this week went viral -- with Shannon getting right in the Ukrainian legend's face to challenge him to a brawl.

"I went there to fight totally for free ... with no gloves," Briggs says ... "He's a punk."

So, where does the hostility come from? Briggs says Wladimir dissed him in public a few years ago for no reason -- treating Briggs like a nobody outside of a random event.

Now, Briggs says he feels like the only way he can let that go is if he gets the chance to pound Wladimir's face into a jelly.

"I'm putting pressure on him daily. He's going to fight me or leave this country. I came back to boxing just to whoop his ass."

Evander Holyfield has fought some of the toughest men to ever step in the ring ... Mike Tyson, Lennox Lewis, Riddick Bowe -- so who punches the hardest??

Easy ... none of 'em.

The Real Deal was out in L.A. last night when he told us ... when it comes to punching power, there's one boxing legend whose fists are simply superior to everyone else.

Floyd Mayweather says people who are shocked by his friendship with Justin Bieber are simply "racial profiling" ... and need to stop making assumptions about him because he's black.

Mayweather was in Chicago promoting his upcoming rematch with Marcos Maidana when a reporter dared to ask if Bieber and Johnny Manziel were really his friends ... or marketing partners.

Money artfully negotiated the Manziel question ... but when asked what about his "odd" bromance with the Biebs, Mayweather threw the race card like a it was a left hook.

The 5-year-old boxing phenom who EXPLODED on YouTube isn't just fun to watch -- the kid has the potential to be the next Mike Tyson ... so says someone who would know, UFC star Bruce Buffer.

The fighter-in-training is Nijee "The Future" -- and footage of the kid training with his dad a few weeks ago skyrocketed to 292,000 views on YouTube.

Bruce -- who's been the UFC ring announcer for years and knows what it takes to win in the ring -- tells us the footage blew him away ... "He's like a 2-foot tall Mike Tyson!"

Buffer says the kid's form is incredible -- and if he truly has a passion for the sport as he gets older ... "He'll be a force to be reckoned with."

T.I. says the beef between him and Floyd Mayweather is over -- and if you think he's going to spill any details about what went down between them ... think again.

The rapper was out in NYC on Monday with a few friends when our photog hit him with a barrage of questions about his recent fight with Floyd ... but T.I. insisted things were all good now.

As for why he wouldn't spill any details about the actual fight, T.I. explained, "He may be used to talking after his fights ... where I'm from, we don't talk after ours."

T.I.'s temper was already revved up just hours before he got into a violent brawl with Floyd Mayweather on the Vegas Strip -- when security at a crowded pool party DENIED his ass ... and it's all caught on video.

Witnesses tell TMZ T.I. had shown up to Liquid -- the pool party at Aria where Nicki Minaj was performing last weekend -- but he tried to side step security with his posse.

Security wasn't having it ... insisting T.I. had to be searched just like the normies entering the party.

The real problem -- we're told the door staff didn't recognize Tip ... and once they did realize it was him they let him right into the event.

But the standoff was intense -- Vegas PD even got involved -- and after watching the video, you'll understand why T.I. had a short fuse when he faced off against Floyd later that night. Pretty nuts.

TMZ has sources close to both T.I. and Floyd Mayweather and it's become very clear ... each side is telling a very different version of events surrounding the fight.

No one is debating what caused it -- as TMZ first reported, it was over T.I.'s wife Tiny -- but what is up for debate ... is who hit whom during the melee.

T.I.'s side: Our T.I. sources say the rapper swung and hit Floyd ... which is what sparked the whole brawl at Fatburger in Las Vegas early Sunday morning. T.I. even hinted at the punch in an Instagram video he posted the next day.

Floyd's side: The champ is telling friends T.I. never hit him with any punch ... he only tussled with members of Floyd's security team.

Someone call a doctor ... 'cause Don King has Bieber Fever!!!

The 82-year-old boxing promoter extraordinaire was at USC yesterday to get ready for Bermane Stiverne vs. Chris Arreola ... when we asked how he felt about Floyd Mayweather having Justin Bieber and Lil Wayne in his corner during recent fights.

It's clear ... King's a HUGE fan -- telling TMZ Sports both guys are GREAT because they help bring "the masses" to the sport.

"I love 'em both! They're fabulous! They're Americana!"

When Floyd Mayweather hits the gym, it's important to listen to music that makes him wanna DESTROY people in the ring -- which could be why he likes to rock out to Justin Bieber.

Bieber just posted footage of Floyd hard at work at his boxing gym, knocking out an ab routine to Justin's track "Right Here (featuring Drake)."

Justin also posted a note with the clip saying, "The champ @floydmayweather training to my music . Atta boy."