Mickey Goodwin: Kronk’s First Main Event Star
Open Mike | by Mike O'Hara | 03.4.2009/10:48AM
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On the night that would launch the Kronk Boxing Team as a major brand in American sports, the star of the show was introduced at the old Olympia Stadium in Detroit.
He slipped a garter off his arm and flung it into the cheering crowd, then got down to business. Predictably, he won his first pro bout by landing a thunderous left hook for a first-round knockout.
It was Nov. 25, 1977 – the day after Thanksgiving – and Thomas Hearns went on to win world championships in six weight classes.
But that night, Hearns was not the star.
Mickey Goodwin, a squat middleweight from Metro Detroit’s downriver suburb of Melvindale, fought the main event and heard the cheers from the following he had built in the amateur ranks.
It was Goodwin who threw the garter, landed the left hook and had the fancy nickname – “Sneaky Pea.”
Goodwin soon would be overtaken as a drawing card by Hearns – the Hit Man who became known worldwide. But opening night on Kronk’s coming-out party for Emanuel Steward’s vision of a world-renowned professional boxing team had Mickey Goodwin in the spotlight in the main event.
We don’t always get to pick our endings – in life or the sports world. And Goodwin’s ending leaves a bruise on the heart of anyone close to the beginning of the Kronk dynasty and watched it flourish through the years.
Goodwin was found dead Tuesday evening in the home he shared with his mother in Melvindale. Police on Wednesday ruled a stroke as the cause of death. Previously, they thought Goodwin had been beaten to death. Further investigation revealed the stroke.
Mickey Goodwin was 50.
He had moved around, to Arizona and Florida, but in recent years had returned to Melvindale and was training fighters in River Rouge.
Today, this is about a good, young kid who had magic in his leather-gloved hands in a brutal but compelling sport that the late sportswriter legend Red Smith called “the sweet science.”
As former heavyweight champ Mike Tyson often said, “boxing is a hurt business.” For Goodwin, “sweet” was dishing out more than he took.
Goodwin could hit, and he usually didn’t bother to duck. His opponent would get his shots in, but Goodwin was willing to stand and trade punches. He didn’t have much choice. He was about 5-6, and fighting mostly as a middleweight or light heavyweight, he gave away at least three inches to almost every opponent.
In one fight, he was in the middle of a flurry when he suddenly jumped and butted his taller opponent with the top of his head. The referee didn’t call a foul, and Goodwin didn’t apologize.
“What else was I going to do?” he said, smiling, when asked later.
His style and heart made Goodwin a promoter’s dream. And to be honest, being white helped.
He also had a sports background. He played high school football. Midway through his pro career, Don Canham, the late Michigan athletic director, saw a chance to promote boxing in Ann Arbor. Goodwin enrolled in classes and fought one card in Ann Arbor.
Goodwin didn’t trade on his skin color – and neither did his buddies at Kronk, including Hearns. He was one of the guys because he asked for no favors of advantage.
Goodwin won a Golden Gloves championship under Steward’s training and guidance, and he competed in the regional finals of the 1976 Olympic Trials, held in Detroit. Also in the regional tournament was a pretty fair fighter – a guy named Sugar Ray Leonard.
Goodwin was advancing through his preliminary rounds, but he sustained a severe cut over one eye. He won the bout but was forced to withdraw.
Leonard continued on to win a Gold Medal in the Montreal Olympics. Goodwin went back to the gym and prepared for the start of a pro career a year later.
There was a crackle of anticipation in the air the night Goodwin and Hearns made their pro debuts on the same card.
There was a long history of great boxing matches at Olympia. Ron Moore, a manufacturer in the Metro Detroit auto-supply industry, teamed with Steward to promote the Kronk Team’s first few fights.
Steward has laid out his plans for reviving boxing in Detroit in a lunch meeting at the old Detroit Press Club.
How would this be different than anyone else’s plan?
“I’ve got the fighters,” Steward said.
And he did – a young stable that grew with the addition of imports such as Hilmer Kenty and Mike McCallum, all of whom won championships.
But that first night, it was Goodwin and Hearns.
Goodwin knocked out Willie Williams, another young fighter, in the first round. Goodwin won his first four bouts and seven of the first 10 on first-round KOs. He was on his way, and so was Hearns.
With his stubby build, Goodwin had trouble making weight. He continued to win bouts and was 17-0 when he lost the first time. He was upset by Ted Sanders on a 10-round decision at the Dunes in Las Vegas on May 20, 1979.
Goodwin would lose once more, on a TKO in 1985, and fight a draw. His final record was 40-2 with a draw. He won 28 bouts on knockouts.
He had one shot at the big time. In the mid 1980s, he signed to fight middle weight champ Marvin Hagler, but a wrist injury sustained in training forced Goodwin to pull out. The bout never was rescheduled.
He was out of boxing from 1985 until 1993, when he returned to the ring in Phoenix, where he had been living.
He won his last bout on an eight-round decision in 1994.
He was exhausted after the bout, and his face was red from taking so many punches.
“You know, you’re allowed to duck,” someone said to Goodwin.
He smiled. He’d paid the price, but he won.
That night – without the garter, the spotlight or the fanfare—it was all that mattered.
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Weekend Wrap: Shaq, Iverson, Phelps Flop, Lions Cuts, The Fan & A-Rod
Open Mike | by Mike O'Hara | 02.7.2009/2:30PM
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Shaq, Amare, Iverson: “Would you?” a guy asked me Saturday afternoon, when there was a hot rumor floating in Hot Rumorville that the Phoenix Suns might be willing to trade Shaquille O’Neal to the Pistons for Allen Iverson. Before that, Amare Stoudemire was being mentioned for a combination of Amir Johnson, Jason Maxiell, Iverson and draft picks.
First Shaq for Iverson. Where do I sign the paperwork? How soon can we do the deal. The Pistons will win nothing with Iverson. They’ve regressed since they traded Chauncey Billups to Denver for Iverson. In time, Rodney Stuckey will be a star-quality point guard. But for now, Iverson is dead weight on the Pistons. He dribbles, he shoots, he scores – sometimes – but his game has faded, and he’s not a winning player.
Shaq has played good ball of late. He’s a presence. Put him on the blocks with Rasheed Wallace, and the Pistons have a dynamite inside tandem – until Wallace decides to migrate to the three-point arc.
Same for Stoudemire. Johnson and Maxiell are nice, complementary players, but nothing more than that – and on many nights, not even that. Stoudemire’s a stud.
I’ve heard all the rationale about expiring contracts, and salary-cap space, to prepare for 2009 and 2010, but I know this: there’s no line in any box score that awards points, assists, rebounds or steals for anything named “expiring contract.”
Phelps: Now that Michael Phelps has been caught using his enormous lung power to suck Chinese Gold out of a bong, I’ll never buy another Speedo swimsuit. Really, before the news hit that in addition to his phalanx of spokespersons, Phelps was his how smokesperson, I figured I could shave a few seconds off my time in the 800-meter freestyle if I wore the swim suit endorsed by Phelps, ate the cereal he endorsed, wore the watch he endorsed – and so on.
Look, it’s OK for kids to have sports heroes. Most of the time, it’s harmless. I’d rather have a kid look up to Michael Phelps, even with his flaws, than some drugged-out rocker, whom we never hold to the same standard.
Swimming TV: Call me a cynic, but I’ve got to believe that the NBC Network is giddily expecting a ratings boost for the World Swimming Championships later this year in Rome.
Remember how ratings for women’s figure skating soared after Nancy Kerrigan was attacked by skating rival Tonya Harding’s goons in the U.S. Olympic Trials in Detroit in 1994?
Phelps’ name is alive again, and so is the hype machine. Ratings will be bigger than expected. Count on it.
Lions cuts: Reports are leaking daily about players who’ve been told by Lions management that they won’t be back next season. Mike Furrey, Leigh Bodden, Dan Campbell and Edwin Mulitalo already have gotten the word.
Cuts officially can be made starting Monday. Based on the team’s 0-16 record last year, and 1-23 in the last 24 games, it’s more surprising who stays than who goes.
King of the Cassel: There’s another way to evaluate Matt Cassel’s performance in emergency relief of Patriots’ star Tom Brady in 2008. In his own right, for a first-time starter, Cassel performed well enough – 21 TD passes, 11 interceptions.
In truth, the standard in New England was higher than that. With largely the same supporting cast the previous year, Brady threw 50 TD passes against eight interceptions, and 8.3 yards per attempt.
New England’s TD passes declined by almost 60 percent, from Brady to Cassel, and Cassel’s average gain per attempt was 7.2 yards, more than a year less – and it was his fourth year in the system.
Any team jumping into the Cassel sweepstakes had better be very, very careful.
The Fan: Clear Channel cleaned house at WDFN-1130 in Detroit, sacking all the on-air talent except for a few up-date announcers. The Fan still has some bite, though.
The Fan took a swipe at its former competition, and the only surviving sports-talk show in Metro Detroit – 97.1-FM “The Ticket” – for shamelessly running audio clips of the Dan Patrick network shows, aired daily on WDFN.
So it goes with monopolies.
A-Roids: Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez is a target for headline writers, and now they’ve got more amoo with Sports Illustrated’s report that A-Rod tested positive for steroids in 2003. We’ve known Rodriguez as A-Rod, D-Rod when his wife filed for divorce, A-Fraud in Joe Torre’s book—- and now, I’m sure, A-Roids in the New York tabloids. I guess I didn’t went for the tabloids.
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