Larry Goossen, trainer who turned Big Bear into a boxing camp hub, dies at 75

Larry Goossen, the trainer and matchmaker credited with turning Big Bear, California, into one of boxing's best-known training destinations, has died at the age of 75. His brother-in-law, veteran matchmaker and TGB Promotions promoter Tom Brown, told BoxingScene that Goossen died on Friday, November 6, surrounded by his family, following a prolonged battle with heart problems. BoxingScene reported the news on Tuesday, November 10.

Goossen came from one of the sport's most influential families. He was the brother of the late Hall of Fame promoter Dan Goossen and of Hall of Fame trainer Joe Goossen. His late older brother, Greg Goossen, played Major League Baseball for the New York Mets.

How Big Bear started

The Big Bear story began almost by accident. According to BoxingScene and a 1992 Los Angeles Times feature, Goossen was hired in 1990 by Steve Wickliff, a wealthy 51-year-old builder who wanted to get into top shape and try a professional boxing match. Wickliff found the remote mountain town, and Goossen set up a gym in an unused hangar at the small Big Bear airport, at an altitude of roughly 6,750 feet.

Goossen spread the word about the benefits of high-altitude training, punishing mountain runs and the isolation of the area, and other trainers followed. The 1992 Los Angeles Times story listed Oscar De La Hoya, preparing for his pro debut after Olympic gold in Barcelona, the Ruelas brothers Rafael and Gabriel, Michael Moorer and Greg Haugen among the fighters who used the hangar camp in its early days.

Veteran trainer Abel Sanchez, who later built his own gym in Big Bear and guided Gennadiy Golovkin there, credited Goossen directly in a BoxingScene interview earlier this year: "Larry's the first one to come up and set up a training camp that I worked at, and Oscar followed. If he hadn't come up here, none of us would have." Sanchez added: "Larry had a great idea."

A lasting legacy

Over the following decades, Big Bear became a regular camp location for elite fighters, including De La Hoya, Golovkin, Canelo Alvarez and Shane Mosley. Goossen himself trained former three-division world champion Johnny Tapia for world title fights in the mountains, according to BoxingScene.

The tradition continues today. Jaime Munguia bought Sanchez's former gym in Big Bear, while Sanchez opened another facility in the town.

Brown, speaking to BoxingScene in March while Goossen was hospitalized with congestive heart failure, summed up his impact: "It wouldn't be there if not for Larry Goossen. There should be a statue for him. Can you imagine all the money he's brought to the economy up there by what he did?"

Family and funeral

Goossen was married to his wife, Cindie, for 37 years. He is survived by Cindie, daughters Heather and Tiffany, grandchildren Jason, Joseph and Juliet, and siblings including Sandi, Patrick, Joe and Tom.

According to BoxingScene, his funeral is scheduled for November 20 at Saint Francis de Sales Church in Sherman Oaks, California.