By MATT OVERS
Boxing returns to the Tropicana Hotel & Casino on Saturday, May 11, for the first time in seven years.
Atlantic City native Larry Goldberg is bringing Boxing Insider Promotions to his hometown for its New Jersey promotional debut.
The CEO is continuing his family’s tradition as the third generation to do business in the city, he explained.
“My grandfather had a business selling beach items in all the Boardwalk shops and my father founded A.C. Linen, starting with one casino, and building up from there,” Goldberg said. “My father was an active member in the community, and he always wanted me to follow in those footsteps.”
“He encouraged me to promote shows in Atlantic City,” Goldberg continued. “He came to all of my early shows in New York. While I was preparing for the fifth event, I received a call that my father was in the hospital. Unfortunately, he passed away unexpectedly a few weeks later.”
Goldberg began his promoter’s journey in the Empire State, putting on a string of live shows at the famous Sony Hall, where he found great success selling out all nine events. During that time, he also became the most active promoter in all of New York City.
Combining his lifelong love of the sport and business acumen, he wants to replicate that success in his hometown.
Goldberg considers this first card a pilot that will develop into a regular series showcasing up-and-coming fighters from New Jersey and around the world. Much like ShoBox did for a generation of fight fans on the Showtime network.
He sees himself as a boxing purist.
Honoring his roots:
Goldberg is not only a huge fan, but also a big supporter of amateur boxing. He has worked extensively with USA Boxing Metro, the nonprofit that runs amateur boxing in New York City.
Continuing along that line of work, a portion of the ticket sales from this event will be donated to the Atlantic City PAL, a longtime hub of boxing, and much more for the children of Atlantic City.
Leavander Johnson and John Brown are just two of the many world-class fighters who started there before going on to have great pro careers. He is also giving away tickets so the children at the PAL can attend the event.
Goldberg graduated from Atlantic City High in 1996, and it wasn’t long before he jumped into the boxing business.
Back in 1997, foretelling what was to come, he founded one of the first boxing news websites, boxinginsider.com. During those changing times, and especially today, Boxing Insider was and remains a vital link to boxing news across the globe.
Back then, no one could have predicted the demise of both HBO and Showtime Boxing, as well as the many boxing magazines the boxing public relied on for their news.
“Promoting fights is so different,” Goldberg said. “Running the website, I was able to operate behind the curtain so to speak. Like the Wizard of Oz. Now I’m out in front. It took some getting used to. To get comfortable in my own skin, but I was able to reinvent myself. I don’t want to be the show, but I’ll do whatever it takes to get fans to come out and support indie boxing shows.”
As a kid coming of age in the late 80s and early 90s you didn’t have to look that hard to find a live boxing show in town. There were shows every week, many times more than one.
The biggest promoters in the world, from Main Events, Top Rank, Don King, you name it, put on fights in the world’s favorite playground. At one-point, Atlantic City competed with Las Vegas for some of the biggest boxing events.
If you wanted to find Larry Goldberg during those years, all you had to do was make your way to Boardwalk Hall or one of the casino ballrooms. Surely, you would find him watching the fights.
“Donald Trump would invite all the celebrities to the fights, but unless it was a big Tyson fight, a lot of times they wouldn’t come,” Goldberg recalled. “So around an hour or so before the fights, a host would hand us tickets and say, ‘Hey, you’re going to the fights as Cher.’ It was great.”
“My buddy Leo and I would end up with front row seats,” he added.
Having established his company as an industry leader in the boxing media landscape and now on the promotional side, Goldberg is hoping to put it all together next Saturday, in the Showroom at the Trop.
It is the perfect place to launch a new series.
Since its opening in 1981, the Trop has been home to many fight cards. In fact, it hosted Tuesday Night Fights at the Trop, the only weekly boxing show in Atlantic City, which ran from 1981-1986.
As of late there has been a dearth, something Boxing Insider Promotions is looking to correct.
“It was always my dream to work with Larry Hazzard, who has done so much for boxing over the years,” Goldberg said. “It is life coming full circle. Especially putting on a show at my favorite casino, Tropicana, where I used to work in Diamond Jim’s as a bev server.
“I got in trouble one time for sneaking in Stone Cold Steve Austin,” he recalled. “It was right before he became mega-famous. My manager gave me an earful.”
The main event:
Goldberg said he’s excited for the debut.
“The card is filled with quality fights up and down,” he said. “It has been great working with Justin Figueroa, a local kid from Atlantic City. He has been working hard to promote the fight all over town.”
“I want to establish roots with this first show and get the series going on a regular basis,” Goldberg added. “Most important, I want to do it the right way, how my father and grandfather did it before me.”
As they say in boxing, now for the official particulars.
Former New Jersey Golden Gloves champion John Leonardo (10-1-1, 4 KOs) headlines the card in an eight-round main event. The junior lightweight, nicknamed ‘Bodyshot,’ hails from Manalapan, N.J., and, you guessed it, he is known for his punishing body punches. The 23-year-old comes into the fight on a three-fight winning streak.
Undefeated featherweight Justin Figueroa (8-0, 6 KOs) will be competing in a feature bout. Figueroa grew up in Atlantic City and is a graduate of Holy Spirit High School. This will be his second fight of the year. He is coming off a spectacular knockout victory over Christian Aguirre in San Antonio, Texas.
Two undefeated fighters of note will also feature on the card. Pryce Taylor (3-0, 2 KOs), an undefeated heavyweight prospect, looks to maintain his winning ways, and Jacob Solis (3-0, 3KOs), will be looking for his fourth straight knockout win.
Tickets for the event are priced at $60, $100, $150 and $200, and are available through TicketMaster. The event begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Showroom at the Tropicana.
