Charley Goldman

Charley Goldman (December 22, 1887, in Warsaw, Poland – November 11, 1968) was a famed boxing trainer who trained five world champions. Goldman's most famous pupil was the undefeated heavyweight champion of the world, Rocky Marciano.

Goldman, who was Jewish, grew up in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn. The area was then known as a tough neighborhood, and Goldman learned how to use his fists at an early age to protect his older brother Sam. It is therefore not surprising that Goldman became a professional boxer, as a bantamweight. He was a protégé of world champion "Terrible" Terry McGovern, and claimed to have adopted the habit of wearing a derby hat from McGovern. He fought his first professional fight, at the age of 16, in a Brooklyn, New York saloon.

Goldman claimed to have engaged in over 400 bouts, but most were unrecorded. Given the quasi-legal status of the sport in New York at the time, it was not unusual that no record was kept of any particular encounter. He is attributed with having engaged in 137 recorded fights, of which he won 36 (20 by KO) and losing 6. The other fights were ruled either a No Decision or draw. Included in his No Decision fights was a ten round attempt to wrest the bantamweight crown from champion Johnny Coulon in November 1912.

Unlike today, ring rivals fought each other repeatedly and often. For example, Goldman had a rivalry with Whitey Kitson. The two were reputed to have fought each other 60 times. Goldman claimed to have fought Whitey twice on the same day, and 12 times in 12 days.

Although, Goldman was considered a top notch fighter he was afflicted with brittle hands, which affected his ability as a puncher. During his career he broke his hands countless times, and was left with deformed, gnarled knuckles and fingers.

After his career as a boxer ended, Goldman began training boxers. His first champion was a middleweight Al McCoy. Eventually, Goldman teamed with boxing manager Al Weill, and trained his fighters including world lightweight champion Lou Ambers and featherweight champion Joey Archibald.

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