Former world champion boxer Terry Marsh has launched a legal battle against the Observer newspaper seeking libel damages of up to £100,000 over a story published in its Sport Monthly supplement.
In documents filed at the High Court the sportsman turned local politician alleges a 3 May story, headed ‘Last Man Standing”, distorted the outcome of a court case between him and boxing promoter Frank Warren, after Warren had sued him for libel.
Marsh claims the story, published in Guardian News and Media’s Sunday paper, misrepresented the judge’s decision of the 1992 libel trial which found in favour of him.
He claims this undermining his personal and professional reputation and causing him distress and embarrassment.
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A spokeswoman for Guardian News and Media said: “We have received a legal complaint from Terry Marsh about a reference we made to the libel trial between Frank Warren and Marsh which Marsh believes undermines his reputation.
‘We do not believe this to be the case and we have made an application for a judge to decide on the meaning of the article. We are currently waiting for a date for the hearing.”
Marsh found fame in 1987 when after working as a fireman he won the IBF world light welterweight title.
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He was later accused of shooting Warren and stood trial for attempted murder after a masked gunman shot his former promoter in the chest outside a theatre in Barking on November 30 1989.
Marsh was acquitted and Warren’s attacker has never been found.
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