Joe Goossen had never accepted a fighter seeking to stage a comeback, but Frankie Duarte was different.
Duarte, whose death from a brain tumor was announced Tuesday, not only impressed Goossen with his aggressive fighting style, he came to Goossen after suffering through several years of heroin addiction, and maintained sincerity throughout.
International Boxing Hall of Fame trainer Goossen on Tuesday recalled Duarte, 71, as a heartfelt human and “impossible to hurt” boxer who may have never won a world title during his 1973-1989 career, but did capture the interest of devout Southern California fight fans drawn to his magnetic style.
“A sweetheart of a guy, and what a warrior,” Goossen said.
Goossen, part of the historic boxing family that counted his now-late Hall of Fame Promoter, Dan Goossen, was attending a fight card at the Reseda Country Club in early 1984 when Duarte and a doctor who had assisted the fighter through rehab, asked to corner him in his comeback.
Duarte had only fought once in nearly five years following a crushing 1977 loss to Pomona, California’s Alberto Davila in a WBC bantamweight title eliminator. Duarte was dropped three times in the bout, losing by fifth-round TKO.
Goossen beamed at the request, telling Duarte how greatly he admired his fights at Los Angeles’ Olympic Auditorium.
As they began training and taking less taxing fights to ease into the return, Duarte told Goossen, “I’m finding out the things I used to do only in the fight itself.”
By his fourth bout, Duarte was ready for a non-title fight versus reigning WBA bantamweight champion Richie Sandoval, a split-decision loss that proved Duarte was on the right track.
He then entered the Stroh’s Forum Boxing bantamweight tournament and won it, defeating George Garcia in the semifinals and Jesus Salud in the finals – badly injuring both of them in the eye region.
“There’s things he’d do that I still teach to my fighters,” Joe Goossen said. “One is using the double-end bag, which is very good for teaching short, inside punches. If [the opponent] thought [he] had the middle closed up, there was no one better than Frankie at threading the needle with a 1-2 because he was such a straight puncher. Even if [the opening] was only three inches wide. He’d get up close to you and when you’re not expecting it, throw a left, then a right – right on top of one another.
“I teach that to this day. Nuts and bolts, tight stance. Short combos up close. I’ve cherry picked things from the great fighters.”
Duarte was bloodied by Jose Torres in a 1986 bout, but won by ninth-round knockout and advanced to a WBA bantamweight title shot at Bernardo Pinango at the Forum in early 1987.
“Pinango was from Venezuela, and in those days, the WBA – from Venezuela – got to pick the judges,” Goossen said. “I should’ve known we were not going to win that fight unless we knocked him out cold. We had a knockdown, plus Pinango had three points deducted from him for low blows.”
Pinango won the 15-round fight by scores of 143-140, 145-140, 142-141.
“We were very disturbed by that scoring,” Goossen said. “Most guys at ringside [reporters, other boxers] had Frankie up by five points.”
Duarte dropped a junior-featherweight title bout in his final fight, getting stopped by Daniel Zaragoza in the 10th round in 1989.
Yet, he avenged that troublesome 1977 loss to Davila right after the Pinango setback, getting off the canvas early and stopping Davila in the 10th round because of what BoxRec describes as a “bad gash.”
“That was not just a bad gash. [Davila] was cut to [expletive] ribbons. It was a bloodbath,” Goossen said.
“In one newspaper photo, Frankie was seen all busted up, waiting for Davila. The caption was: ‘And he won the fight!’”
“Goossen said he advised Duarte in the second half of the bout to ‘keep the pressure on. Dont go off the script.’ I was just whipping the pony down the stretch … and Frankie listened. The better the fighter, the more they listen.
“We had a great run. It was a great adventure for me. And I took on reclamation projects after that.”
About three years ago, Duarte stopped by Goossen’s newer gym in Van Nuys, California, after visiting the empty lot where the family’s former San Fernando Valley gym stood.
Duarte had undergone surgery on his brain tumors and told Goossen he’d been feeling sentimental.
“I went by the gym and had a real good cry, Joe,” Duarte told Goossen.
“The best years of my boxing life were spent at that gym.”
To this day, Goossen remains moved by that moment.
“That was Frankie,” Goossen said. “This boxing game is a hard thing to shake.”
