Boxing promoter Dan Goossen died Monday of liver cancer that had been diagnosed scant weeks earlier. He was 64.
Best known nowadays as the promoter of superstar super-middleweight Andre Ward, Goossen will also be remembered for superintending the superstar phase of Michael Nunn?s career in the late 1980s and for shepherding fellow Los Angeles area residents Rafael and Gabriel Ruelas to titles and acclaim in the 1990s.
It was a family act, with younger brother Joe Goossen becoming one of the sport?s most prominent trainers. There was a passel of brothers actually, including Greg Goossen, a member of the New York Mets and the Seattle Pilots in the late 1960s.
Dan?s operation was a second-tier of promotion, overshadowed by Bob Arum, Don King, and later Golden Boy promotions, and therefore fragile.
Ward?s ascendance during the past six years seemed to be impetus for a golden era for Goossen, who also promoted welterweight-middleweight Paul Williams and popular, promising heavyweight Cristobal Arreola
But there had been several downturns the past three years, as Arreola?s superstardom didn?t pan out, Williams was paralyzed in a motorcycle accident and Ward began to look for a way out of his Goossen-Tutor ties.
?I was deeply saddened to hear the news of Dan Goossen?s passing early this morning,? Ward said in a statement I obtained from Bay Area boxing insider Mario Cabrera Jr. ?My thoughts and prayers have been with Dan and his family since I received the news of his illness last week. While Dan and I recently had our professional struggles, he was a great man, father and husband. He will be greatly missed by the boxing community. I will continue to keep the Goossen family in my prayers.?
I enjoyed numerous encounters with Goossen by phone and at dozens of fights and press events attendant to Ward?s career, often with much repartee, which he loved.
At one of those encounters, I got a chance to offer condolences regarding his brother Greg?s death at age 67. Greg had a certain niche in baseball folklore because he seemed to inspire vintage analysis from his Mets manager Casey Stengel, and then he was a notable teammate of Jim Bouton in Ball Four.
But he didn?t overshadow Dan, as it turned out. That guy was larger than life, and he will be remembered in boxing forever.
