NO REGRETS: STEVE GOODWIN INTERVIEW

Bilal Fawaz with his British and Commonwealth Titles alongside Steve Goodwin

When Goodwin Boxing put on its final show at York Hall on March 14th the British boxing world lost something. More than something, a part of the celebrated, intimate small hall scene which fans will have to accept won’t be around forever. It is a horrible realisation but Steve Goodwin was candid as to why the family run promotion have called it quits.

Steve has managed seventy five champions, and largely built their careers on his shows. “No Mickey Mouse titles” he says amusingly; his fighters have won Southern Area up to World Titles. “I’ve loved it. Overall my experience of boxing has been really positive”. He’ll continue to manage, with the new British middleweight champion Bilal Fawaz the jewel in his crown, but his honesty on promoting is a stark warning as to where the small hall is headed and how boxing can be cruel out of the ring as well as in it.

“It was really sad on Saturday, it’s really hard, nobody sees what happens to drag you down. Boxing is a hobby and I want to enjoy it.”

Giving stark insight into the realities of promoting shows and dealing with all the various moving parts of an event, Goodwin has also experienced some recent disappointments which made him question his level of involvement in the sport. “Boxing promotion isn’t for the faint of heart, finance is only scratching the surface when you’re running shows at York Hall.”

Former British Middleweight Champion Brad Pauls had been with Goodwin Boxing for a long time, but recently handed his contract back and Steve clearly still smarts at that. “I was disappointed that Brad asked for his contract back. I gave the money to charity, but it shows you in life that at the end of the day very few of them show gratitude… With me from the start, he told me ‘I’m with you to the end.’”

“After a while, when you’re loyal, you can do the most amazing things and people still shit on you. It wears you down. That wears you down.”

Pauls takes on 15-0 (11) Shaquiel Thompson on March 28th in Manchester, it is not a fight Goodwin was a fan of while managing Pauls, but he wishes him luck for it “If Brad Pauls wins 28th March I’ll be delighted to be wrong but I felt it was the wrong fight for him to take.”

Goodwin still manages unbeaten Giorgio Isaila. Pic: Lewis Moore

Bilal Fawaz winning the British Title was an amazing achievement for a fighter who has overcome adversity in and out of the ring. Undoubtedly talented, Fawaz can be frustrating to watch at times, but when he’s in full flow his style is beautiful to behold. Now thirty seven years old, Steve is proud of where Fawaz has got to with them as a team.

“Bilal has done really well, he came to me at 4-1, no one wanted him and I turned his career around as a manager. I use my knowledge, manoeuvrability,  and I know what to do. You can’t be taught, you learn what to do and I’m proud of my resume. I do the same with my financial advisor business, we’re good at it.”

His successful financial business and his family will be Goodwin’s main focus now, as well as the handful of boxers he’s kept in the stable. “I kept the journeymen on because I like looking after them, but I’ve kept a couple others on”, including promising 9-0 (6) super welterweight Georgio Isaila. They’ll need shows to fight on though, and that is going to get trickier and trickier according to Steve. Particularly at York Hall, a historical venue so beloved in Britain, Goodwin was blunt, “Post COVID, you can’t make money.”

“It’s the most expensive venue. The costs have gone through the roof: doctors, security, the venue itself, officials, tickets to print… The amount of tickets boxers are selling is falling, I can name in one hand the ones who sell good tickets. The BBBofC only allow ten fights on a show and elsewhere it’s twelve. York Hall, if it doesn’t change the amount of fights, will be finished as a boxing venue in two to three years.”

York Hall is a historic, revered venue, but will boxing cease to exist there? pic: Lewis Moore

This is an alarming warning. Anyone who's spent time at York Hall, from big televised shows to evenings of six rounders, will attest to what a superb venue for watching the sport it is. Not a bad seat in the house, even when you’re stood at the back because the seats are full. The sweat, blood and skill of the fighters, the punches slamming home and crowds creating deafening cacophony in its Victorian greenhouse atmosphere. To lose that would be a crime, but times change.

Steve says he hopes someone does make the venue their home, which Goodwin Boxing did so well over the last sixteen years, but “nobody when I started is still here.”

While he’ll still be a seen and respected face in the boxing world, in the end the reality is Steve Goodwin ran Goodwin Boxing because he loves the sport. Sixteen years of brilliant nights for fighters and fans at an end, and that’s sad; Steve puts it into perspective. He cherishes his time in the sport having met "so many good people", but...

“I went to Ireland with my mate and I said to him ‘I look after so much money in the market, and I’ve got all these things, my wife, my family, my business, I can’t justify it anymore’. My decision was made. I can do things I couldn’t do before, it’s important for us as a family.”

“I’ve been with my wife for forty years and she’s never asked me to stop, but when I did she said ‘I’m so glad you did that’, and that was enough for me. No regrets.”