Sport: Boxing Inducted: 1999 Country: United States Born: December 22, 1887 in Warsaw, Poland Died: November 11, 1968
Charley Goldman
is most recognized as the trainer of five World champions.
The most famous of them was undefeated Heavyweight Champion
Rocky Marciano. Goldman was elected to the International
Boxing Hall of Fame in 1992.
He also trained Middleweight
champion Al McCoy, Lightweight titleholder Lou Ambers, Featherweight
champion Joey Archibald, and Welterweight champ Marty Servo.
Lesser known is the fact that the 5'1", 105-pound Goldman
was himself a boxer and bantamweight contender in a career
that spanned 1904 to 1914. He became a professional boxer
in New York State when prizefights were only legal under
certain conditions—not often the conditions of his
matches—which explains why Goldman is estimated to
have fought more than 400 mostly unrecorded bouts. Of his
137 fights on record, he won 36 (20 by KO), losing 6. The
other 94 were ruled either a no-decision or a draw.
A protégé of
Bantamweight champion Terry McGovern, Goldman fought his
first professional bout at age 16, in a Brooklyn saloon.
The fight was designated a draw when police stopped the match
after 42 rounds.
Goldman’s 10-round non-title fight
against World Bantamweight titleholder Johnny Coulon in November
1912 ended in a no-decision. He fought rival Whitey Kitson
60 times. Once they fought twice on the same day; another
time, 12 bouts in 12 nights.
One of the principal boxing
teachers of the twentieth century, Charley was also one of
its most colorful. With his signature black derby, horn-rimmed
glasses, and big cigar, the gruff-faced, diminutive Goldman
was a perfect fit for the offbeat New York boxing theater.
Goldman is quoted by the New York Times: “Training
a promising kid is like putting a quarter in one pocket and
taking a dollar out of the other.”