Joe Goossen presses on to honor memory of late brother Dan

Joe Goossen casually chatted about boxing with his older brother last week, a snap shot of a scene that had played out thousands of times over the last 30-plus years.

It was so normal, but oh so different.

This conversation took place in a hospital room. Dan Goossen had only days to live, and both men knew it.

Dan died at 3 a.m. PT Monday, four days before his 65th birthday and five days before Joe would lead Vanes Martirosyan into the ring on Saturday for an important super welterweight bout against Willie Nelson at the Foxwoods Resort in Mashantucket, Conn.

As difficult as it will be, Joe will be in Martirosyan's corner Saturday in a bout televised by Showtime.

"You know, it still hasn't sunk in that he's gone," Joe Goossen told Yahoo Sports. "It must have been a hundred or more times over the last two-and-a-half, three weeks that I looked at him and said to myself, 'What the hell is going on here?' Dan was a big personality, even to me, and I'm his brother. I have a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that he's not here and he's not going to be there so we can talk about the fight afterward like we'd always done."

Dan Goossen was lucid in his final weeks before he died of liver cancer Monday. Most members of the large Goossen family had congregated at the hospital to say their goodbyes to Dan, who had managed to work his way from the bottom to become one of the sport's top promoters.

Dan and Joe had a particularly close bond because Dan promoted or managed many of the fighters that Joe trained.

Martirosyan signed with Goossen Promotions in January, taking on Dan as the promoter and Joe as the trainer.

"This is a very exciting signing for our company," Dan Goossen said in January. "What we look for in our fighters is talent and the desire and willingness to overcome every obstacle, and we know Vanes has all the tools to do just that."

Dan was diagnosed with liver cancer the day after Labor Day. He was admitted to the hospital that day and never went home. He was aware not long after being admitted that his time on earth was short.

But he never gave up on Martirosyan. Last week, only a few days before he died, he called his brother to his side.

"Dan said to me, 'You know, Joe, you need to make sure that Vanes wins this fight,' " Joe Goossen said. "He wasn't thinking of anything other than winning. It's going to be incredibly difficult for me to be there and know he's not around, because we shared so much of our lives together in this sport.

"But I also know how important this was to Dan and how much it would mean to him for Vanes to go out there and win the fight."

Joe Goossen's phone has rung off the hook in the days since his brother's passing. Well-wishers have left messages, telling him of some kindness or another that Dan had done for them. Many texted Joe photos of a smiling Dan.

It has been hard, he said, to read the tributes written about his brother or to look at the photos. Dan was so vibrant and full of life, and to know that he is gone shakes Joe to his core.

"Dan was one of the hardest-working guys I knew and he put his heart and his soul into what he did," Joe Goossen said. "But he was also able to blend a lot of fun into his day, every day. He always had this ability to lighten the mood and make you laugh and brighten the day. He was a serious businessman who wanted badly to be the best at what he did.

"But he was also – and I don't think a lot of people know this about Dan – but he was also a very spiritual, religious guy. He put his kids through private Catholic school, as our father and mother had done for us, because he believed in the benefit of that. That was how he lived his life."

Joe Goossen laughed and said, "I'm a little rougher around the edges than Dan, me being a gym guy."

Joe, though, said he's going forward with the fight out of respect not only to Martirosyan but also to his brother. He said he knows that somehow, Dan will be there with him, as he'd been so many times in the past.

Dan Goossen was known for the lavish, fun post-fight parties he'd throw, and when the fight is over Saturday, Joe Goossen said it's going to be difficult to smile and enjoy it without having Dan there to wrap his arm around and chat about the show.

But Joe Goossen will give everything he has to Martirosyan in hopes of helping him secure the win that Dan so desperately wanted him to get.

"Dan has been No. 1 in my mind for a while now, and I've been thinking about him so much these last couple of weeks," Joe Goossen said. "I think back on his life and I used to think he looked like a movie star when he was younger. He was such a big, handsome guy with a great smile. And it's so sad now to know he's not here. It hurts, and it hurts a lot, and I can't shake that feeling I have.

"I am trying not to read articles about him or look at the pictures, because every one of them has a big photo of Dan beaming back at me. I don't really want to face it [that he's gone], because I've faced enough already. But boxing was a big part of Dan's life, and he wanted this win for Vanes. So you can better believe we'll do whatever we can to get it for him."

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