By Jake Donovan

Ricky Burns never had his night in the ring versus Miguel Vazquez, but Frank Warren had his day in court in regards to why the fight never happened. The veteran promoter was awarded £50,000 in libel damages plus additional costs on Friday, the outcome of a lawsuit filed versus Alex Morrison, Burns' manager.

The case stemmed from allegations made by Morrison over the true reasons for the twice postponed and eventually scrapped lightweight unification bout between Burns and Vazquez. the pair of lightweight titlists (at the time) were due to meet last March, only for the bout to be pushed back six weeks when Vazquez came up ill. 

A rescheduled date of April 20 was offered, but the fight quickly unraveled on both sides. Vazquez claimed that terms were never finalized, while Morrison questioned the Mexican boxer's true reasons for pulling out of the March date, and whether or not the fight was ever secured. 

Burns eventually split from Warren, signing with Matchroom Boxing shortly thereafter. 

Warren filed separate lawsuits earlier this year, issues ranging from breach of contract to false allegations and defamation of character. 

The verdict handed down on Friday suggests that, at the very least, the courts saw his efforts to have been more sincere than his accusers believed to be the case.

"I am pleased that the Court awarded me such a high sum in damages and recognized the seriousness of the allegations," Warren said in a statement through his press office. "I tried to settle this at the beginning seeking only an apology, but Alex Morrison said that he would only deal with this through lawyers and I therefore had no option but to use the Court process to prove my case and the truth."