The International Boxing Hall of Fame has announced their latest class and it is a trio of former world champions who have had a place on the world stage and will be placed on the world stage this summer.
This class includes, three former World Champions in the form of former Heavyweight Champion, Riddick Bowe, former Lightweight Champion, Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini and former Featherweight Champion “Prince” Naseem Hamed, which by all accounts should be considered a stellar class for this Hall of Fame.
Riddick Bowe was a former two time heavyweight champion of the world, first winning the WBA, WBC and IBF titles from Evander Holyfield in November of 1992, dealing him his first career loss. He would have successful title defenses against Michael Dokes in the fabled Madison Square Garden and Jesse Ferguson in RFK Stadium in Washington, but his tenure as Heavyweight Champion was not without controversy.
The WBC had named British star Lennox Lewis as the number one contender, but the two could not come up with a financial division of the purse that seemed fair and Bowe relinquished the title (ceremonial throwing the title in the garbage) rather than fight the Englishman.
Holyfield would reclaim the title in Las Vegas winning a majority decision over Bowe, though the fight was more known for the appearance of the “Fan Man” who dropped in to the open air stadium via a fan type apparatus.
Bowe would later reclaim a portion of the Heavyweight Championship, knocking out Herbie Hyde in the 6th round and would later defend the belt against Jorge Luis Gonzalez, though it was a rematch with Holyfield that he craved.
Surrendering the WBO Title, Bowe would win the rubber match with Holyfield but would later engage into a series controversial fights with Andrew Golota, both of which ended in disqualification victories for Bows when the Polish heavyweight repeatedly threw low blows.
Overall, Bowe retired with a very impressive record of 43 and 1 and though he has not received the respect due over his career, this is an honored well earned.
Former WBA Lightweight Champion, Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini, joins Bowe. The popular Italian-American rose up the Lightweight winning the NABF title and would challenge Alexis Arguello for the WBC Lightweight Champion, but would suffer defeat in the 14th round.
Mancini would rebound winning his next two fights and would again challenge for the World Title, this time the WBA version of the Lightweight Championship where he defeated Arturo Frias in the first round by Knockout.
Mancini would make four successful title defenses, though tragedy would befall one of those matches where he defeated Duk Koo Kim, whom he defeated in the fourteenth round and the fallen challenger would die fur days later due to the beating he took in the ring. Mancini would later lose his championship to Livingstone Bramble in 1984, and would lose a rematch shortly after. He retired with a record of 29 and 5 with 23 Knockouts.
The third inductee is “Prince” Naseem Hamed, the flashy British pugilist known for his over the top ring entrances. Hamed could back it up and he won the WBO Featherweight Title in 1995 over Steve Robinson and would go on a tear winning the IBF Featherweight Title in 1997 over Tom Johnson and the Lineal Featherweight against Wilfredo Vazquez.
Hamed would only lose once in his career, which was to Mexican star Marco Antonio Barrera, where he lost the lineal Featherweight title. He would retire with a record of 36 and 1 with 31 Knockouts.
Two former Japanese World Champions join this group. Former WBA Light Flyweight Champion, Yoko Gushiken (24-1, 23 KO) and the first ever WBA Flyweight Champion, Masao Ohba (35-2-1, 16 KO) are part of this class as is former American Middleweight, Ken Overlin, (113-18-9, 23 KO) who was a top star in his weight class in the 1940’s.
Manager, Rafael Mendoza, referee, Steve Smoger, broadcaster, Jim Lampley and publicist John F.X. Condon round out the class.
This class will be inducted on June 14th at Canastota, New York, which will be the 26th annual ceremony.
We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to congratulate this year’s Boxing Hall of Fame Class.
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