him champion emeritus status. Ward claimed a shoulder injury that required surgery was the reason for his inactivity, but the WBC claimed that Ward had not provided any medical evidence or even given them a rough availability date. On May 20, Ward relinquished the champion emeritus title, stating that he did not believe the WBC had the right to strip him of the world title because he was willing and able to defend it within the period specified by the WBC's rules. Ward was praised for standing up to the WBC. Ward vs. Rodríguez Ward spent most of 2013 recovering from injuries, and feuding with promoter Dan Goossen, over the inclusion of a co-manager in Ward's promotional contract. The case has been to court or arbitration on 3 separate occasions. Each time, Goossen was deemed in the right. Ward defended his WBA and Ring titles against unbeaten Edwin Rodríguez in Ontario, California in November 2013 with a wide unanimous decision. The fight started with rough tactics until Jack Reiss made an unprecedented move, penalizing both fighters two points each and warning them that he would end the fight if it did not clean up. Ward went on to dominate the rest of the fight. The three judges scored the fight 118–106, 117–107, and 116–108 all in favor of Ward. Ward spent all of 2014 inactive, still feuding with Goossen. Dan Goossen died of complications from liver cancer in September 2014, leaving the future of Andre Ward's boxing career even further in doubt. On February 19, 2015 The Ring stripped Ward of the Ring champion belt due to him not having defended his title against a top #5 contender in the last two years. Ward vs. Smith In April 2015 Ward announced that he would make a ring return after a 19 month long lay off. Ward signed with Jay Z's Roc Nation Sports in January 2015 and this was announced to be the first event under the Roc Nation banner. It was later confirmed that he would fight on June 20, against British Paul Smith (35-5, 20 KOs) at the Oracle Arena in California at a 172 lbs catchweight fight. The fight was to take place on BET. Roc Nation did reach out to HBO, where Ward had worked as an analyst previously, but upon hearing his opponent, they passed on the opportunity to showcase Ward's long-awaited return. Ward won