When the International Boxing Hall of Fame in Canastota, New York announced its class of 2023, trainer Joe Goossen (pictured) was included in the non-participant category; and television executive Seth Abraham and broadcaster Tim Ryan were added to the observer category. Boxingtalk will take this opportunity to shine a spotlight on these three:
Joe Goosen was born on September 7, 1953 in California’s San Fernando Valley and was oe of 10 siblings from the famous Goossen family. In 1982, the Goossens founded Ten Goose Boxing to train, manage and promote boxers. Dan trained boxers out of the family-run Ten Goose Gym in Van Nuys, CA. From 1984-1990 he trained Michael “Second To” Nunn to 34 victories including the IBF middleweight championship over Frank Tate (TKO9). He also developed world champions Gabriel Ruelas (WBC super featherweight), Rafael Ruelas (IBF lightweight) and Frankie Liles (WBA super middleweight). In 1988 he was named Trainer of the Year by KO magazine. Throughout his decades-long career he has also worked with Joel Casamayor, Shane Mosley, Riddick Bowe and Chris Arreola among others. In 2005 he was in Diego Corrales’ corner for his remarkable lightweight championship Fight of the Year win over Jose Luis Castillo. Outside of the ring, he has found success as a broadcaster, imparting his knowledge to viewers as color commentator on TVKO, HBO’s PPV arm, and as a Fox Sports analyst for Premier Boxing Champions.
Still an in-demand trainer, he has worked with Ryan Garcia, Vito Mielnicki Jr. and Frank Sanchez in recent years.
Tim Ryan
Born May 16, 1939 in Winnipeg, Canada, Ryan got his start in broadcasting while in high school in Toronto on radio station CFRB. After graduating from University of Notre Dame in 1960, he called hockey, football and baseball and was sports anchor for various television outlets. From 1972-77 he called NHL, NFL, tennis and boxing for NBC Sports. In 1977, Ryan moved to CBS and was lead blow-by-blow announcer for boxing. Paired with color commentator / analyst Gil Clancy, the duo formed one of the most respected and memorable teams in broadcast history and were synonymous with “the sweet science” to a generation of fans. Considered one of the foremost commentators of his era, he called more than 300 championship fights during his career in radio and television, including Ali vs. Frazier I for Armed Forces Network, Thomas Hearns vs. Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvelous Marvin Hagler vs. Sugar Ray Leonard, Aaron Pryor vs. Alexis Arguello and Ray Mancini vs. Duk Koo Kim. Ryan also covered ten Olympic Games. Highly regarded for his ability to tell the fighter’s story and concisely break down the in-ring action for viewers, Ryan was awarded the BWAA’s Sam Taub Award for Excellence in Boxing Broadcast Journalism in 1986. He retired in 2012 and currently resides in British Columbia.
Seth Abraham
Born August 20, 1947, Seth graduated from the University of Toledo and Boston University. He worked for the New York Times and Major League Baseball before joining upstart cable company Home Box Office (HBO) in 1978 as director of sport operations. Over the next two plus decades, he rose through the ranks - Director of Sports (1980), VP of Sports Programming (1980), Senior VP, programming operations and sport (1983-90), President and CEO of Time Warner Sports (1990) – and became one of the most powerful, influential and innovative figures in boxing. Under his leadership HBO became the powerhouse “Network of Champions” and synonymous with top quality programming on Championship Boxing, Boxing After Dark and TVKO. Among the legends Abraham negotiated to compete on HBO include Marvelous Marvin Hagler, Sugar Ray Leonard, Roberto Duran, Julio Cesar Chavez, Roy Jones Jr., Oscar De La Hoya, Riddick Bowe, Mike Tyson and Pernell Whitaker. Abraham, who brought blow-by-blow announcer Jim Lampley to HBO, incorporated a storytelling element to broadcasts that separated HBO from other networks. Abraham left in 2000 for Madison Square Garden, where he was Executive Vice President and COO until 2004, overseeing the 2001 middleweight unification tournament won by Bernard Hopkins over Felix Trinidad. In 2014 he was awarded the BWAA’s Sam Taub Award for Excellence in Broadcast Journalism.
Boxingtalk will be featuring the remaining inductees in the IBHOF class of 2023 in the near future.
