43 Facts About Ruby Goldstein

Ruby Goldstein was a serious World Lightweight Championship contender in the 1920s, and became one of US most trusted and respected boxing referees in the 1950s.

Ruby Goldstein was born on Cherry Street, in a small three room apartment on the Lower East Side in Manhattan.

Ruby Goldstein's widowed mother, whose husband had died a few months before Goldstein was born, took in sewing and washing in an effort to raise her four children.

Ruby Goldstein lost only six fights in his professional career and an astounding 70 percent of his wins were by knockout or technical knockout.

Ruby Goldstein dropped out of school around 14 to take an office job, but was boxing as an amateur by sixteen.

Ruby Goldstein started his boxing training as an anemic looking featherweight at around 125 pounds, and boxed almost exclusively in the lightweight range between 1923 and 1928, impressively winning all but three of his first thirty-two fights from December 1924 and June 15,1927.

On May 11,1925, Ruby Goldstein won a six-round points decision against Ray Mitchell at the Pioneer Sporting Club in New York City.

Ruby Goldstein, hailed as a lightweight championship prospect, gave a dazzling exhibition of footwork, boxing skill and hitting, battering Vacarelli into such helplessness that the referee stopped the fight.

Ruby Goldstein met Hudkins as a lightweight on June 25,1926, at Coney Island Stadium in Brooklyn, before 18,000 fans, losing in a fourth-round knockout.

Hudkins was down on the mat for a count of five in the first round from a right cross to the jaw, and Ruby Goldstein appeared to be winning the bout.

Ruby Goldstein took the second round by a good margin, with the third close to a draw.

Ruby Goldstein had not been knocked out before, and according to the Lincoln Star, had won twenty-three consecutive bouts prior to the match.

On September 24,1926, Ruby Goldstein lost a sixth-round technical knockout to Billy Alger at Dreamland Rink in San Francisco, California.

The loss by Ruby Goldstein was so rare that some suspected poor management.

Ruby Goldstein slipped from a right to the jaw in the opening of the fifth and in the resulting fall to the mat, sprained his ankle.

Ruby Goldstein was unable to answer the call for the sixth round.

On May 13,1927, Ruby Goldstein won an important six round points decision at the large venue of New York's Madison Square Garden against the former July 1925 NYSAC World Lightweight Champion Jimmy Goodrich.

Terris and Ruby Goldstein had known each other for many years and had attended high school together.

Ruby Goldstein seized the advantage when he floored Terris for a count of nine with a right to the jaw, around 1:25 into the first round, and confidently seemed on his way to an easy victory.

Terris suffered from the same suceptability to knockouts as Ruby Goldstein, and was himself KOed by Irish great Jimmy McLarnin who possessed extraordinary speed and punching power.

Ruby Goldstein lost to Jimmy McLarnin in a second-round knockout at New York's Madison Square Garden before 19,000 fans on December 13,1929.

Ruby Goldstein was first down for a count of nine from a left to the head in the first round, and for a count of nine by another right in the opening of the second that knocked him into the ropes.

Ruby Goldstein arose but was knocked to the mat for the final count shortly after.

Ruby Goldstein was in serious trouble in the first round, and had trouble rising from the count of nine.

Weakenend in the second, with a few seconds before the bell in the third, Ruby Goldstein leveled a striking attack that put Zivic on the mat for the full count.

Ruby Goldstein had gone eight months without a bout since his loss to McLarnin.

Ruby Goldstein was down three times for counts of nine, before a fourth knockdown prompted the referee to end the bout as a technical knockout.

Ruby Goldstein had gone six months without a bout since his loss to Joe Macedon, who knocked him out in the seventh round in Newark, New Jersey.

Ruby Goldstein served as a referee for 21 years, and was the "third man in the ring" for 39 world title fights.

Ruby Goldstein refereed the Sugar Ray Robinson-Joey Maxim light heavyweight title fight on June 25,1952.

Ruby Goldstein refereed the first Floyd Patterson-Ingemar Johansson world heavyweight championship fight in Yankee Stadium on June 26,1959.

Ruby Goldstein was criticized for not immediately stopping the match and allowing Johansson to knock Patterson down six more times before ultimately awarding the bout to Johansson.

When Ruby Goldstein finally intervened, Paret slumped to the canvas, unconscious.

Ruby Goldstein died 10 days later from the injuries he suffered in that bout.

Ruby Goldstein refereed only one more fight, two years later between Luis Rodriguez and Holley Mims.

The years between 1937 and 1942 were particularly difficult for Ruby Goldstein, having lost most of his savings in the stock market crash.

Ruby Goldstein worked for a time managing a friend's billiard parlor and continued to work as a boxing trainer when he could.

Ruby Goldstein enlisted in the army in 1942, rising to the rank of sergeant, and working as a physical trainer and boxing coach at Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn.

Ruby Goldstein moved to Miami Beach in his retirement in 1977.

Ruby Goldstein had been previously married to the former Mae Owen, with whom he had a son, Herbert.

Services for Ruby Goldstein were held in New York, and he was buried in New Montefiore Cemetery in Pinelawn, New York, on Long Island.

Ruby Goldstein was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1994, as well as the World Boxing Hall of Fame.

Ruby Goldstein, who was Jewish, was inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1995.