“I was once like you," read the words of Larry Goldberg. Goldberg has owned BoxingInsider since 1998, but has moved into the realm of promoter – something he never saw coming.

His next promotion is at the Tropicana Hotel & Casino in Atlantic City on May 11 and features, among others, the local favorite Justin Figueroa, and a junior-featherweight contest between John Leonardo and Frank Gonzalez.

Goldberg is traditionally a web marketer, and yet finds himself attempting to promote in one of the hardest regions in which to promote. He never expected this journey, but it is one he has come to embrace. 

“I was just a guy going to the fights taking videos on my phone,” Goldberg told BoxingScene. 

Now he is a guy who promoted six dates in 2023 – more than Top Rank, Matchroom, or any other promoter did in New York State. 

“If you look on BoxRec, they only regulated 16 professional boxing shows in New York State – and I promoted six of them,” Goldberg reflected. “Which is crazy, because three years ago, I would’ve been just sitting in the back of one of the press conferences cracking jokes to other people.”

Goldberg has promoted nine dates at Sony Hall, and he is returning to his hometown of Atlantic City. None of this would’ve happened without a suggestion. 

He was trained by Heather Hardy, the former world champion. No one messes with Hardy – and when Hardy needed a comeback fight, she urged Goldberg to promote. 

“I have always been involved in the amateur boxing scene in New York, but Heather Hardy was my personal trainer – and she needed a fight – and she pushed to do a [professional fight card] after I did a few amateur events,” Goldberg said. “Next thing you know, the first event went good – we figured it out. So we just did it again. 

Hardy outpointing Calista Silgado in October 2022 encouraged Goldberg to continue on his journey, but he continues to wrestle with the idea of being a boxing promoter.

“The truth was I was on the margins – I owned BoxingInsider,” he said. “I would go and get credentialed to the fights. I would take the videos, but I wasn’t the boxing writer. By being part of the media, there was a lot of people that wouldn’t talk to you.”

Goldberg went from staying away from promoters to becoming one – and therefore dealing with the people he once avoided. 

He also doesn’t believe that he could ever go back to being in the media, and that the time has come to impact the sport and attempt to implement change. 

“I’ve passed the test – I’ve done these shows nine times now,” he proudly stated. “I know everything that goes into making a boxing show, including the things they don’t want the media to know, because you can’t hide anything from the promoter.”

The platform is growing. Goldberg believes that “too much of boxing is behind paywalls” – the goal is for his fights to become available to the wider public. He glowed with excitement when speaking of “Hell’s Kitchen Kid” Christina Cruz, who had two fights on his cards and in turn contested the vacant IBF flyweight title fight against Gabriela Fundora – the sister of light-middleweight champion Sebastian. She may have lost, but the opportunity came from the New York shows she featured on. 

“I have recorded all the fights – all nine fight cards are out there for free – and that is the other thing about these cards….” he said. “Please come and buy tickets – that is the lifeblood of a club promoter, but we are putting them out there. I want the fights to be seen – all of boxing is behind paywalls. Well, we are not.

“What I have tried to do is to be an old-school promoter where at some point you can say BoxingInsider is doing fights and before we announce it you know we are putting on good competitive fights. What boxing doesn’t have is a legitimate minor league to develop the fighters coming from the amateurs and getting to the pros. Sure, some major promoter sign a few pro debuts, but there are so many kids coming out of the New York Golden Gloves program that are just not developed.” 

Lucas Ketelle is a proud member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and author of “Inside The Ropes of Boxing” (available on Amazon). Contact him on X @LukieBoxing.