The Star stumbled on Sarah’s name, listing Cebu City as her hometown, while reviewing a boxing results chronicle and published a story on the feisty Filipina last Friday. There were no initial findings on her family roots. But the other day, Cebu-based businessman Tony Aldeguer’s executive secretary Karen Gonzales e-mailed a detailed Sarah’s personal history after tracking down her parents in a modest home on Lomboy Street, Banawa, Cebu City.
Aldeguer, who operates the acclaimed ALA (for Antonio Lopez Aldeguer) boxing stable, took an interest in Sarah after reading The Star story and instructed his secretary to phone every Rama in the directory to check on the fighter’s relatives. She eventually hit the jackpot when Damacia Rama acknowledged she is Sarah’s mother.
Sarah, 29, is the second of seven children born to Meliton Rama, a 52-year-old jeepney driver, and Damacia, a 54-yar-old housewife. Only two children–Johndel, 21, and Charina, 12–live with their parents. Emilda, 31, Charly, 19, and Gabriel, 16, live in San Francisco, Agusan del Sur. Randy, 27, lives in Punta Engano where he works. Evelyn, 25, migrated to the US, like Sarah, and has settled in Pennsylvania.
Sarah attended the Immaculada Night High School in Cebu City but didn’t graduate. She stopped going to school after a cyst was discovered in her breast. Sarah underwent surgery to remove the cyst. She never went to college.
In May 1995, Sarah left Cebu City for the US to get married to her American pen pal James Jones. She published her name in a pen pals column and soon after, began exchanging letters with Jones. He flew to Cebu to meet Sarah in person and later proposed.
After a few years, Sarah divorced Jones for "personal" reasons then married Stacy Goodson, a professional fighter. She learned how to box in Paris, Arkansas, and had never fought in Cebu. During the day, she works in the assembly line manufacturing air conditioning spare parts.
Sarah’s mother said at first, she didn’t like the idea of her daughter fighting as a pro. Boxing is a tough and dangerous profession. But as Sarah persisted, her parents said it’s her life, not theirs, and they held back in trying to convince her to stop boxing.
Sarah turned pro in 1999 using her first husband’s surname Jones. She now fights as Sarah Goodson. Sarah was winless in her first nine bouts, losing two by knockout. Then, in a reversal of fortunes, she racked up four wins in a row, stopping Christal Parker twice and decisioning Deanna Nance and Lonita Dow. The streak of bad luck recurred and she lost three in a row before laying off to give birth to her first child Sergio in November 2001.
Coming back from an 11-month rest, Sarah pounded out a four-round decision over Stephanie Dobbs in Fort Smith, Arkansas. Two months later, she trounced Melissa Shaffer in Little Rock. The twin wins earned for Sarah a crack at the vacant International Female Boxers Association (IFBA) strawweight title in Ignacio, Colorado, last June. Alas, she failed to capture the crown and lost to Canadian amateur sensation Vaia Zaganas on an eight round technical knockout.
Sarah was slapped a pair of point deductions by referee Russell Mora before she left the ring in disgust at 0:36 of the eighth. "Ticked off at the referee, she spat out her mouthpiece, said something spiteful to Mora, and stormed out of the ring," wrote Chris Cozzone in the New Mexico Boxing website.
Mora deducted a point from Sarah for excessive holding in the third round and another for "wrestling tactics" shortly before she surrendered. She hasn’t fought since the loss because of her pregnancy.
In the IFBA, there are 18 weight categories. Sarah fights in the strawweight division with a range of 97 to 102 pounds. The lowest weight category in the IFBA is junior strawweight for fighters 96 pounds and below. In men’s professional boxing, the lowest weight class is minimumweight, sometimes called strawweight or miniflyweight, for fighters 105 pounds and below.
IFBA title bouts are scheduled for 10 rounds. Each round has a two-minute limit.
Because of the dearth of competition in female boxing, much less in the strawweight division, Sarah has fought the same opponents repeatedly. For instance, she has battled Nina Ahlin and Nance four times apiece. She has squared off with Juana Vega and Parker twice each. In all, Sarah has traded blows with 11 opponents in compiling a 6-12 record, including two knockouts.
Sarah’s husband Stacy Goodson makes a living exclusively in the ring. He turned pro in 1994 and has racked up a 29-30-2 record, with 15 knockouts. Goodson, 33, is considered a journeyman cruiserweight who has seen action all over the US. He has also fought and lost in Uzbekistan, Denmark, and Canada.
Last December, Goodson fought his first "name" opponent, former World Boxing Council (WBC) lightheavyweight champion Donnie Lalonde, in Winnipeg.
The fight was over in a single round as Lalonde made short work of Goodson. Lalonde, 42, won the WBC 175-pound title in 1987 and lost it in his second defense to Sugar Ray Leonard on a ninth round stoppage in Las Vegas a year later. The bout against Goodson was Lalonde’s second comeback outing since returning from a four-year hiatus last October.
Sarah’s father Meliton, a third degree cousin of Cebu City Vice Mayor Michael Rama, said his daughter and her husband are excited to visit the country next year–perhaps, even sooner–to find a manager.
Aldeguer said he is willing to help out the Goodsons but the problem is lack of opposition. There are no lady professional fighters here although more and more females are taking up the sport as amateurs. Two years ago, Camp Crame police officer Michelle Martinez won a gold medal in the lightwelterweight division at the first Asian Women’s Boxing Championships in Bangkok.
There are also no Filipino cruiserweights so Goodson won’t find any opponents here unless they’re imported from overseas.
Still, Cebu City will welcome the Goodsons with open arms. Sarah, after all, is the country’s first-ever female professional fighter and that’s one for the books. Additionally, Sarah and Stacy are the only husband-and-wife team in professional boxing today and maybe, in history. Muhammad Ali’s daughter Laila and her husband Johnny McClain work as a tandem but while Laila remains active in the ring, McClain has retired. Sarah and Stacy are still slugging it out as pros.