By BoxingScene Staff

A disgruntled and inactive Joe Greene Jr. has bought his way out of his contract with Warriors Boxing and signed a multi-year deal with The Empire Sports and Entertainment Inc, BoxingScene.com has learned. The Queens-based boxer, who has been plagued by health issues and promotional backbiting, has not fought since June 19 of last year and is antsy to jump-start his career again. He is also trying to put what his camp perceives as past missteps behind them.

“Basically, there were many lies and deceits that were played against us,” said Andre Rozier, who trains and advises Joe Green Jr. “Joe is a fantastic young boxer and he’s destined to be a world champion- it just seemed we were being caught in too many webs of deceits.”

Rozier disparaged the work of Greene’s former promoter, Warriors Boxing, saying its executive director Leon Margules broke a promise to have the 24-year-old fight on a major network for a title. Although Greene has yet to lose a fight, he has failed to garner the same publicity as other young fighters such as Danny Jacobs or even Victor Ortiz before his loss.

Greene (21-0, 14 knockouts) is scheduled to fight against an opponent to be named on April 2 at the Mohegan Sun on ESPN 2, according to his father and trainer Joe Greene, Sr.

“From the beginning, I wasn’t a big fan of Warriors,” Rozier said.

“[Margules] didn’t have the ability to get us to the next level. We were destined to stay on the ESPN 2 level. If I had known that was the level he was going to have us, we never would have agreed to sign with them. Joe should have been on HBO. I’m not holding my tongue about this anymore.”

When contacted by phone, Margules was unapologetic about his time with Greene. He helped Greene get a fight against Sergio Martinez for an interim title on Jan. 17, 2009 that would have been on HBO, but Greene pulled out, citing kidney stones.

“I almost made a fight with him against [Kelly] Pavlik,” Margules went on. “But HBO went in a different direction and Pavlik fought Hopkins instead. I got all his fights on television, too many to [count].”

Margules’ remarks then got a little pointed. Asked to describe Greene’s potential as a fighter, Margules said: “I think he’s talented but I don’t know if he’s improving like I thought he would. You have to have a good team around you and I don’t know if he has the right people around him. If he gets out of New York, I think he’ll do fine…I just don’t know if he’s getting advice from the right types of people.”

Greene Sr. said that he was forced to buy out his son’s contract with Warriors for an estimated $50,000. He also said that he is trying to extricate his son from a managerial contract with Jack Stanton, an attorney, through a lengthy court process in a case that is still pending. Meanwhile, Greene is getting advice from the ubiquitous Al Haymon, according to Greene Sr. Stanton said that his business partner in the managerial deal with Greene is looking to recoup money or a percentage of future earnings for money that was invested.

"We gave him a salary and a bonus when no one else was interested in him," Stanton said. "We never held him back in his career. We got him two national titles and a high ranking."

Stanton said that Greene was ranked in the top five in three of the four sanctioning groups under his guidance.

"I don't think it will take much to jump-start his career," Greg Cohen, Greene's promoter said. "We're looking at him to fight for a title in the second half of the year. I think Joe is a superstar in the making, and the world will soon know what we already know about Joe Greene."