BY PASHA FARMANARA | Soho resident Joey Goodwin lives two lives. By day, he’s the creative director at men’s clothing label Unruly Heir and Good Days Marketing. But, by night, he’s the Soho Kid, representing his neighborhood in boxing matches.
Goodwin currently lives and was raised in Soho, so he takes pride in his ring name.
“Soho embodies a lot of great memories for me, from eating at Alidoro to Sullivan St. Park [Vesuvio Playground],” he began. “Dreaming about our fashion brand being up there with the big boys in Soho, to playing ball at W. Fourth. This neighborhood has always been my playground.”
Goodwin planned to take part in the Golden Gloves, one of the nation’s best-known amateur boxing tournaments. After strenuously preparing for the tournament, Goodwin was set back by an injury.
“On my last day of sparring at 6:30 in the morning, I took a body shot,” he related. “The punch gave me a hairline fracture to my rib.”
After a diagnosis of the injury, it was ruled that Goodwin could not participate in the tournament. Even though this was a crushing blow to his boxing dream, he can still appreciate a good punch.
“It was a great shot,” Goodwin admitted.
Boxing was not always a part of Goodwin’s life. It began rather recently in a local park.
“A good friend of mine took me to the park and started showing me how to hit the pads,” Goodwin explained. “I then went on to fight in an underground boxing match party called Friday Night Throwdown.”
After getting the boxing itch, he decided to join a gym to learn how to “do it right.” He became a member at Mendez Boxing, at 23 E. 26th St., to hone his skills.
After joining the gym, and working with trainers Salvadore and Carlito, Goodwin dropped 40 pounds.
As a creative director for a fashion company, it seems unfitting for Goodwin to take part in such a rugged sport, but he points out, the two activities have their similarities.
“What made me fall in love with boxing is really the strategy and fundamentals of the sport,” he said. “Things like distance, timing and footwork are at the crux of boxing, but they are equally important in business.”
As part of his Golden Gloves effort, Goodwin planned to raise money to fight obsessive compulsive disorder through the International O.C.D. Foundation. He was asking people to pledge funds for the foundation for every round he boxed.
Even though his fractured rib knocked the Soho Kid out of the Golden Gloves, he plans to continue boxing, though not competitively.
“I will definitely continue boxing,” he said. “I want to keep improving it is an art and a great way to stay in shape physically and mentally!”
