Anyone in boxing who doesn’t know who Bobby Goodman is, well, … get outta town. Anyone who hasn’t had the pleasure of meeting him… you have something to look forward to! He’s one of the best, any sport, any place – and he’s ours!
Bobby “The Mensch” Goodman
Jill: How old where you when you saw your first fight?
Bobby: I was about 7 or 8 years old when I went with my father to me first fights. I had to be a little careful because the age limit was 14 but I was a gym rat and they all knew me. I saw Pep, Louis, Walcott, Robinson and even Marcel Cerdan.
Jill: What was it like being Murray’s son?
Bobby: Being Murray’s son was so very special because he brought me to live in the training camps of so many of my heros. Louis, Cerdan, Robinson, Kid Gavilan, Paddy Young,and even Melio Bettina. It was great being around the stars of boxing and other sports. I got pretty close as a young man to Rocky Marciano. I would pitch to him out by the pool at Grossinger’s we had a nice relationship. Dad and I were close friends and I really learned the business from him in the beginning. I was gone on the sport though and never wanted to do anything else.
Jill: Tell us about an exciting moment?
Bobby: I have many exciting moments in boxing. It was terribly exciting to see my client and pal Bob Foster knock out Dick Tiger in Madison Square Garden to win the Light Heavyweight Title. I think Bob was the greatest light heavyweight who ever lived. I also was very happy when Muhammad Ali regained the heavyweight crown in Zaire by knocking out George Foreman, who was not the nicest of guys that he is today. It was also very memorable to do so many great legendary fights like Holmes-Norton, Duran-Leonard, Salvador Sanchez-Wilfredo Gomez, Wilfredo Gomez-Lupe Pintor, Bobby Chacon-Bazooka Limon, all three Norton-Ali fights and of course the “Thrilla in Manila” and “The Rumble in the Jungle” in Zaire. The years with Ali, Norton, Holmes, Foreman, Duran, Chavez and Leonard, were also very special and memorable.
Seeing my own boxers at Madison Square Garden — Buddy McGirt, Aaron “Superman” Davis, Kevin Kelley, Poison Junior Jones, Julio Cesar Green, Tracy Patterson, Lonnie Bradley, and Tom “Boom Boom” Johnson win world titles for us and hold them for awhile was also very memorable.
Jill: Any regrets?
Bobby: I guess if I have a regret, it may have been not being able to talk Don King and Felix Trinidad, Sr. into not taking the fight with Winky Wright. Another fight I couldn’t talk King out of doing was the Duran fight with Kirkland Laing — who was a real pesky stinker style-wise. He had a big fight in Prime Time scheduled with the then very hot Tony Ayala, but he lost the laing fight and then Ayala got into some problems.
Jill: How do you handle the demands on your time?
Bobby: The demands of the job are getting to be so many, that it’s become very time and detail consuming. There are matches to be made, contracts to be signed, site deals to be negotiated, marketing, PR, and trying to find and sign new young talents. Of course we also spend a lot of time lobbying for our boxers to get opportunities. I’m lucky to have a good team with me with John Wirt, CEO, Donna Westrich handling TV and many contracts and medicals, Eric Bottjer doing our matches, Coylette James doing our ticketing, hotels and travel and Don Majeski, now helping us with new business.
It’s a good team and everyone has a function but we all spill over to help in all areas as necessary.
Jill: Your family? With your schedule, do you get to spend time with them?
Bobby: My family life is great — my wonderful wife Kathy and I have been married for 47 years now and have four terrific daughters, who are all married and six grandchildren with more coming soon we hope. It’s great since I do a lot of work from home until there’s an event to take us on the road.
Jill: You followed your dad into the Boxing Hall of Fame. Wow! What was that like?
Bobby: I was blessed to be inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame last year, joining my Dad. I wish he could have been there. I’m also a member of the New Jersey Boxing Hall of Fame and the Florida Boxing Hall of Fame. I’ve been very fortunate and those honors will be with me forever as the treasures I can never forget. Just to be listed with some many great legends of our sport is a very deep honor.
Jill: Your latest venture, Square Ring. Will you speak a bit about this new association.
Bobby: Square Ring Promotions is Roy Jones, Jr.’s company that will continue after he retires. I mentioned some of the people above, but it was more like a family coming together again. We were all with Don King Productions for many years, with the exception of Don Majeski, who was just brought on. We’re interested in signing talented young boxers who are serious about the sport.
Jill: Best fight you’ve seen?
Bobby: There are a couple of “best” fights for me. You’d have to go some to top:these. And I only list fights that I was there personally for.
Holmes vs. Norton
Ali vs. Frazier (Manila)
Marciano vs. Walcott (1st Fight)
Trinidad vs. Vargas
Diego Corrales vs. Jose Luis Castillo (1st Fight)
Duran vs. Leonard (1st. Fight)
Gomez vs. Pintor
Chacon vs. Limon
Sanchez vs. Azumah Nelson
Boom Boom Johnson vs. Troy Dorsey
Kevin Kelley vs. Troy Dorcey
Holmes vs. Cooney
Holmes vs. Snipes
Dokes vs. Weaver (2nd fight)
Hagler vs. Hearns
Leonard vs. Heards (1st Fight)
Jill: One’s you’d like to see?
Bobby: Of the fights I’d like to see would be the one that “got away” — Pacquiao vs. Mayweather. There was just too much money for them not to do it. I think one of them was being very foolish to want to let that fight slip away, unless he was not confident of winning.
Jill: A star on the rise?
Bobby: You should watch for a young undefeated light heavyweight names Ismayl Sillakh, he’s 11-0 (10 KOs) and the call him the Black Russian. He had over 300 wins as a amateur and will soon fight for the NABF title.
Jill: Has boxing seen it’s finest hour? Where do we go from here?
Bobby: Although boxing has seen some very fine times, the sport is still generating huge PPV numbers with certain fights. More than the other UFC type sports are doing. But we need some new exciting faces out there to attract the attention of boxing fans and even transcend the sport to get non-boxing fans involved in boxing. I also think that once a new heavyweight or two makes some noise and takes over a world title and can capture the imagination of the fans — with a Tyson-like attraction, that division will stay a little bland.
Jill: Tell us the best and the worst things about boxing?
Bobby: The best of boxing is when the very two best in a division are matched with one another and put on a great show. The worst in boxing is when you see matches that feature the Christians against the lions, or there are controversies over poor officiating that give the sport a bad name. It’s also bad when certain networks will only deal with certain manager, and promoters, keeping the fans from seeing the very best we have to offer.
Jill: How would you like to be remembered?
Bobby: I’d like to be remembered as someone who loved the sport and was always fair in my dealings without ever hurting anyone or lying. I’d like to remembered as a pro who did many things in the sport and always tried to do it with integrity.
I was about 7 or 8 years old when I went with my father to me first fights. I had to be a little careful because the age limit was 14 but I was a gym rat and they all knew me. I saw Pep, Louis, Walcott,
Robinson and even Marcel Cerdan.
Being Murray’s son was so very special because he brought me to live in the training camps of so many of my heros. Louis, Cerdan, Robinson, Kid Gavilan, Paddy Young,and even Melio Bettina. It was great being around the stars of boxing and other sports. I got pretty close as a young man to Rocky Marciano. I would pitch to him out by the pool at Grossingers we had a nice relationship. Dad and I were close friends and I really learned the business from him in the begining. I was gone on the sport though and never wanted to do anything else.
I have many exciting moments in boxing. It was terribly exciting to see my client and pal Bob Foster knock out Dick Tiger in Madison Square Garden to win the Light Heavyweight Title. I think Bob was the greatest light heavyweight who ever lived. I also was very happy when Muhammad Ali regained the heavyweight crown in Zaire by knocking out George Foreman, who was not the nicest of guys that he is today. It was also very memorable to do so many great legendary fights like Holmes-Norton, Duran-Leonard, Salvador Sanchez-Wilfredo Gomez, Wilfredo Gomez-Lupe Pintor, Bobby Chacon-Bazooka Limon, all three Norton-Ali fights and of course the “Thrilla in Manila” and “The Rumble in the Jungle” in Zaire. The years with Ali, Norton, Holmes, Foreman, Duran, Chavez and Leonard, were also very special and memorable.
Seeing my own boxers at Madison Square Garden — Buddy McGirt, Aaron “Superman” Davis, Kevin Kelley, Poison Junior Jones, Julio Cesar Green, Tracy Patterson, Lonnie Bradley, and Tom “Boom Boom” Johnson win world titles for us and hold them for awhile was also very memorable.
I guess if I have a regret, it may have been not being able to talk Don King and Felix Trinidad, Sr. into not taking the fight with Winky Wright. Another fight I couldn’t talk King out of doing was the Duran fight with Kirkland Laing — who was a real pesky stinker style-wise. He had a big fight in Prime Time scheduled with the then very hot Tony Ayala, but he lost the Laing fight and then Ayala got into some problems.
The demands of the job are getting to be so many, that it’s become very time and detail consuming. There’s matches to be made, contracts to be signed, site deals to be negotiated, marketing, PR, and trying to find and sign new young talents. Of course we also spend a lot of time lobbying for our boxers to get opporunities. I’m luck to have a good team with me with John Wirt, CEO, Donna Westrich handling TV and many contracts and medicals, Eric Bottjer doing our matches, Coylette James doing our ticketing, hotels and travel and Don Majeski, now helping us with new business.
It’s a good team and eveyone has a function but we all spill over to help in all areas as necessary.
My family life is great — my wonderful wite Kathy and I have been married for 47 years now and have
four terrific daughters, who are all married and six grandchildren with more coming soon we hope. It’s
great since I do a lot of work from home until there’s an event to take us on the road.
I was blessed to be inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame last year, joining my Dad. I wish he could have been there. I’m also a member of the New Jersey Boxing Hall of Fame and the
Florida Boxing Hall of Fame. I’ve been very fortunate and those honors will be with me forever as
the treasures I can never forget. Just to be listed with some many great legends of our sport is a very deep honor.
Square Ring Promotions is Roy Jones, Jr.’s company that will continue after he retires. I mentioned some of the people above, but it was more like a family coming together again. We were all with Don King Productions for many years, with the exception of Don Majeski, who was just brought on. We’re
interested in signing talented young boxers who are serious about the sport.
There are a couple of “best” fights for me. You’d have to go some to top:these. And I only list fights
that I was there personally for.
Holmes vs. Norton
Ali vs. Frazier (Manila)
Marciano vs. Walcott (1st Fight)
Trinidad vs. Vargas
Diego Corrales vs. Jose Luis Castillo (1st Fight)
Duran vs. Leonard (1st. Fight)
Gomez vs. Pintor
Chacon vs. Limon
Sanchez vs. Azumah Nelson
Boom Boom Johnson vs. Troy Dorsey
Kevin Kelley vs. Troy Dorcey
Holmes vs. Cooney
Holmes vs. Snipes
Dokes vs. Weaver (2nd fight)
Hagler vs. Hearns
Leonard vs. Heards (1st Fight)
Of the fights I’d like to see would be the one that “got away” — Pacquiao vs. Mayweather. There was just too much money for them not to do it. I think one of them was being very foolish to want to let that fight slip away, unless he was not confident of winning.
There are so many more of my favorites for different reasons.
You should watch for a young undefeated light heavyweight names Ismayl Sillakh, he’s 11-0 (10 KOs) and the call him the Black Russian. He had over 300 wins as a amateur and will soon fight for the
NABF title.
Although boxing has seen some very fine times, the sport is still generating huge PPV numbers with certain fights. More than the other UFC typle sports are doing. But we need some new exciting faces out there to attract the attention of boxing fans and even transcend the sport to get non-boxing fans involved in boxing. I also think that once a new heavyweight or two makes some noise and takes over a world title and can capture the imagination of the fans — with a Tyson-like attraction, that division will stay a little bland.
The best of boxing is when the very two best in a division are matched with one another and put on a great show. The worst in boxing is when you see matches that feature the christians against the lions, or there are controversies over poor officiating that give the sport a bod name. It’s also bad when certain networks will only deal with certain manager,and promoters, keeping the fans from seeing the very best we have to offer.
I’d like to be remembered as someone who loved the sport and was always fair in my dealings without ever hurting anyone or lying. I’d like to remembered as a pro who did many things in the sport and always tried to do it with integrity.