Shockingly as it may seem there was a time in boxing when a trainer and his fighter were tied together like a good Catholic couple through the good times and the bad. From club fighter to world champion, the unwritten rule spanned all levels of boxing ability and was a testament to the now lost meaning of “loyalty.” We now live in an age of thievery in which managers and fighters routinely kick trainers to the curb in order to lay the blame for bad performances or to fatten their own pockets by paying a new trainer a smaller fee. Trainers are dispensable these days, even celebrated ones like Pat Burns who molded Jermain Taylor into a world champion and was rewarded by being left in the dust because the fighter thought he had reached a “plateau.” I believe he’s still on that plateau, but let’s blame Burns anyway because it’s so easy to.
Teachers of all facets are supposed to be treated with respect I thought. Isn’t that instilled in all of us when we’re prancing around elementary school never obeying all the rules of course but always being considerate to our classroom teachers? The sport of boxing has always been corrupt in some way whether it be fighters taking dives or judges being paid off or whatever other money making schemes there’ve been, but at least during the Mob era in which Blinky Palermo and Frankie Carbo cast down their iron fists there was still that long-lasting loyalty between a trainer and his student.
Jack Blackburn wasn’t in the business of training black fighters when the promising prospect Joe Louis came to his gym because he wanted to make money and win titles and the racial oppression that dominated the 30’s made that almost impossible. There hadn’t been a black heavyweight champion since the wild-eyed Jack Johnson and many whites thought and hoped there never would be another in boxing history. Blackburn ended up taking Louis on because he was such a talent and the rest is history. Their relationship will be remembered as one of mutual love and admiration, a father-son bond prided on the blood, sweat, tears, and determination that carried them all the way to the heavyweight championship and onward into immortality. Louis and Blackburn shared an unbreakable bond that would only be broken by death when Blackburn suffered a fatal heart attack. Louis fought on, but was never the same without his “Chappie,” the nickname they endearingly called each other. And neither was Iron Mike for that matter, who lost his father and what know seems like what was his first and only hope for salvation when Cus D’Amato passed away on the eve of him capturing the heavyweight title.
There were other significant trainer-fighter relationships that never wavered within the land of corruption. Rocky Marciano stuck with Charlie Goldman throughout his entire career and it seems like a rational decision considering The Brockton Bomber retired undefeated as heavyweight champion. Current trainer Joe Goossen whose list of champion fighters includes the Ruelas brother, Michael Nunn, Joel Casamayor, and most recently Diego Corrales is amazed how fighters who continue to win decide to leave their trainers behind. He speaks from personal experience as Nunn was 35-0 when he left Goossen. “Why would he chance that?” a befuddled Goossen explained. “He barely lost a round in his entire career up to that point and then he decides to make a change and gets knocked out against James Toney.”
Nunn went on to capture the super middleweight title, but Goossen feels that he was never the same fighter without his tutelage and blamed the fighter’s management team for having him removed. This team consisted of ex-cons, according to Goossen, and wanted to use their handpicked trainer in order to cash in and add 10% to what they were making off Nunn. “There was pressure from the brothers—these were criminals, hard-core guys. I knew exactly what was going on,” said Goossen. Thievery was going on and continues to go on today as trainers are left unprotected with no long-term contract or guaranteed deal and all too often end up on their backside wondering why they have to rely on a handshake and verbal commitment to make a living.
That was fine when such a deal actually meant something and fighters and managers stuck by their word. But too many broken promises over the years has taken trust out of the fistic dictionary altogether and even though trainers have never been protected from the perils of the boxing business, these days they are more apt to join the freelancers union than any boxing union. The days of a trainer maintaining control over the fighters in his gym and not having to worry about their loyalty are long gone for the most part thanks to the do-at-any-cost attitude that has grown out of the belly of the monster of boxing’s billion dollar industry. PPV paydays have led to astronomical purses as cable television has revolutionized the sport and turned boxing into a moneymaking machine. Boxing reached a financial milestone when Ali and Frazier made five million dollar purses to fight each other, but in today’s market that wouldn’t even cause a stir as thirty million dollar checks have become the norm for mega-fight combatants to walk away with.
While many fighters, managers, promoters, and even some trainers have gotten rich, the skyrocketing in boxing revenues over the last thirty or so years has been accompanied by many greedy hands eager to get theirs and more. As a result, the simple bond between fighter and trainer has been tainted and we seldom have the unbending relationships in boxing anymore that have more to do with compassion and love and less to do with money and prestige. That’s not to say that there aren’t any relics of the past still practicing their craft. Dan Birmingham has been with Winky Wright from the beginning of his career and Freddie Roach’s relationship with Manny Pacquaio reminds us of those good ol’ days when legendary trainers like Ray Arcel protected their fighters as if they were family and trusted in return that even with all the ring glory they’d remain loyal to the end. In working with Ezzard Charles, Tony Zale, Kid Gavilan, Barney Ross and many more great champions, Arcel abided by a certain gentlemanly training etiquette taught before him that is now sadly on the verge of extinction. This has happened not because trainers have no class anymore, but because fighters these days are more often believing that their chief-seconds’ are as expendable as the judges scoring the fights.
Joe Goossen is no doubt a throwback to the trainers of old and has shown that he will do anything for his pupil if he feels that the fighter shows a mutual admiration and trust. We saw this with the Ruelas brothers, as Goossen became a father figure as he guided them to championships and he continues to make sure they are doing well and in good spirits. They are family to him, but the Ruelas brothers are rare birds in this business, as Goossen admits, and he hasn’t developed any relationship nearly that special ever since. The wound from Michael Nunn wilting under the pressure of his crime-infested posse and dropping Goossen as trainer after such a heralded middleweight run is still relatively fresh and he isn’t about to put money down that a Rafael or Gabriel Ruelas is going to walk into his gym anytime soon.
For a moment, he thought he’d have a longtime run with Joel Casamayor until manager Luis De Cubas ended that hope by firing him for no apparent reason besides money, which seems to be a recurring theme for Goossen and of course he’s not a lone. Ironically, he later teamed up with Diego Corrales against Casamayor, and helped turn his career around against Castillo in what eventually turned into a trilogy (third one ended on the scale) marred by Castillo’s inability to make weight. We will never forget their first fight though as it has already been immortalized in the boxing lure as one of the greatest fights in the history of the sport as Corrales came off the canvas twice to stop Castillo all in the same round.
Goossen solidified his Hall-of-Fame career on that night in a telling moment when he climbed up the ring steps and stuck Corrales’ mouthpiece back in his mouth after the fighter had been knocked down for the second time. Calmly, Goossen told the bloodied and battered Corrales, “You better f****** do something now.” With those words, Corrales turned around to face Castillo’s onslaught and it didn’t look as if he’d survive that 10th round despite his resilient effort until a desperate left hook did enough damage to swing the tide and in the blink of an eye Jose Luis was out on his feet and Joe Goossen was carrying the victorious Corrales around the ring. It couldn’t get any better than that night in Vegas for Goossen and Corrales and trust me it didn’t.
In the rubber match against Joel Casamayor in October of 2006, Corrales inexplicably failed to make weight and lost his lightweight title on the scale, marking the first time that he’d been overweight for a fight. Never before had Goossen brought a fighter to the scale who didn’t make the weight. After losing the fight to Casamayor in an uncharacteristically lackluster performance the wheels suddenly fell off the bus and the once close relationship between Goossen and Corrales was no more. Expecting his deserved $120,000 training fee from his fighter, Goossen received a $10,000 check instead and hasn’t seen a penny more ever since. According to Corrales, the two had agreed to the amount beforehand and Goossen was just angry that he wasn’t getting his usual 10%.
That was news to Goossen’s ears as he was so shocked when he received Corrales’ payment that he thought it might be a joke or some partial payment. “I knew he had it in him but I was hoping this day would never come,” said a disappointed Goossen who'd gone so far in his trust of his fighter that he brought him into his home during training camps to spend time with his family. He mistakenly thought that Corrales was a rehabilitated man with a charming spirit and now he sadly realizes that it may all have been a show.
Nowadays, Goossen and Corrales do not speak and the fighter’s career is in serious jeopardy after a one-sided defeat in his welterweight debut at the hands of Joshua Clottey. Despite Goossen feeling that his once prized pupil stabbed him in the back, he still couldn’t find it in his heart to root against Corrales in his first fight since the split. “I don’t have any sympathy for him because he did this to himself, but I was still rooting for him against Clottey,” said Goossen.
Rooting for Corrales is one thing but letting him off the hook is another and Goossen isn’t about to let that happen. He plans on suing his former fighter for the rest of his money owed and has been candid about the indecencies of Corrales who was once welcomed as part of the Goossen family. After taking a severe beating at the hands of Clottey, the storied career of Diego Corrales seems to be coming to a disappointing end and his old trainer isn’t overly optimistic that he’ll ever get his due and realizes that hefty lawyer fees may make his claim illogical. But that’s not the point for Goossen, who says this is about principle and Diego understanding that he can’t get away with doing this to people.
Since splitting with Corrales, Goossen has moved on in his own illustrious career and currently trains heavyweight prospect Malik Scot, among other fighters including former junior flyweight champ Brian Viloria. In another ironic twist of musical chairs between fighter and trainer, Goossen is now in the mix to work with Jose Luis Castillo, who was the man who helped enshrine Goossen and Corrales in boxing history by fighting so valiantly in that first fight. What a sight it would be to see Goossen walking up those ring steps with Castillo after being at Corrales’ side throughout their rivalry. Could you imagine Ray Arcel leaving Ezzard Charles over a financial dispute and ending up training Jersey Joe Walcott or Rocky Marciano?
It’s unimaginable, but in this day and age it’s a very real possibility that’s already been proven by Goossen who originally left Casamayor to train Corrales and may even move on to Castillo. Anything’s possible for boxing trainers these days in this free-agent type market although I don’t see Freddie Roach jumping Pac-Man’s ship to train Barrera or Marquez. All good things must come to end I guess but the fallout between Goossen and Corrales was as if the clock struck midnight on one of boxing’s Cinderella stories that turned out to be too good to be true. There are not many of those stories left so it’s important that we treasure the special trainer-fighter relationships that we see today because these rare occurrences take us back to the olden days in which a trainer demanded a level of respect and was thought of by his fighter as a patriarchal figure who he entrusted his life to rather than a short-term employee with an expendable salary.
