International Boxing Hall of Fame 2023

Like many of us, the International Boxing Hall of Fame in Canastota, NY, has had its share of challenges; the covid epidemic, two successive years unable to properly celebrate the new classes, and then having to combine all into one annual celebration in 2022. While many businesses and other ventures have failed, the Hall, under the foresight and leadership of “Good King” Brophy, has not just survived but has overcome. But wait! No rest for the weary. With neighboring Canada on fire, much of this year’s event on June 8 to 11 had to be replanned so as to keep the attendees safely protected indoors, as removed as possible from smoke that created an almost twilight haze at noon. The Brophy Boyz, including Jeff and Mike along with “Good King” Ed, and a dedicated and resourceful staff aided by much of the town of Canastota, did a 911 scramble, enlisted the invaluable help of nearby Foxwoods Casino, and had everything in order with a perfect buzzer shot.

Like a holiday truce in war, this is a time when the gloves come off, the sniping and double-crossing stops, and Boxing puts on a good face. The positives are emphasized, the negatives swept under the rug, achievements are celebrated, and everybody’s happy. Cleaned up, it’s not unlike a prospective groom being presented to his future in-laws. And this year’s celebration even produced a marriage proposal!

The new class consisted of Rafael Marquez, Carl Froch, Alicia Ashley, Timothy Bradley, Laura Serrano, Joe Goossen, Tim Ryan, Seth Abraham, Brad Goodman, Brad Jacobs, and posthumous entries “Tiger” Jack Fox, Pone Kingpetch, and JoAnn Hagen.

Marquez needs no introduction, but for the record-held bantam and super bantam crowns while engaging in a classic four-bout split with Israel Vazquez, two of which were “Fight of the Year”. He won the USBA Bantam belt by stopping Hall of Famer “Too Sharp” Johnson and the IBF 118-lb title by stopping Tim Austin. Trained by Nacho Beristain, himself a Hall of Famer, Rafael successfully defended seven times while going 41-9 (37). Speaking only Spanish, he kept his comments brief while strongly emphasizing the toughness and “leave nothing in the ring” warrior attitude that he feels characterizes Mexican fighters.

Out of Nottingham, England, Froch is similarly well known with an exciting, willing-to-fight-anyone style. He won super middle titles in the WBC, IBF, and WBA while defeating Jermain Taylor with a sensational rally in the last 14 seconds, Arthur Abraham, Lucian Bute, Glen Johnson, Andre Dirrell and Mikkel Kessler. He lost to Andre Ward, no disgrace, in the finals of the Super Six middleweight tournament of 2011. Not done yet, he concluded his career in typically exciting fashion with double wins over George Groves, coming off the deck to stop George in the first one and then, before 80,000 fans at Wembley Stadium, obliterating Groves in the second. Carl retired with a 33-2 (24) slate. Now a ringside analyst and outspoken in public, Carl did express regret that he’d never gotten to fight in Las Vegas.

Ashley, born in Jamaica, was an outstanding amateur before going on to win professional world titles at feather, bantam, and super bantam. Aspiring to be a ballerina, it was a knee injury that drove her to boxing. In an era where success can be determined as much by contracts and manipulation as by accomplishments in the ring, Alicia stands out as having none of the former advantages. She summed this up succinctly: “Everyone has always said to me, ‘Oh, you should get a publicist.’... I love to box, so for me it’s just boxing. It’s not about being famous.”  With a technically brilliant style, she defeated Christina McMahon in Brooklyn to win the WBC Super Bantam crown and set a Guinness Book record as the oldest person to win a world title, at 48. She retired at age 50(!) with a 24-12-1 (4) record. She is now head trainer at UFC Fit in Shanghai.

A popular TV figure, Bradley won world titles at light welter and welter while going 33-2-1 (13) with 1 NC. A fine boxer, his career is irrevocably marred by the atrocious Pacquiao decision. Nonetheless, he beat Kendall Holt, Nate Campbell, Lamont Peterson, and Devon Alexander, and thunderous puncher Ruslan Provodnikov in 2013’s Fight of the Year. He defeated Juan Manuel Marquez and Brandon Rios but was unable to lure or prod the cagey Floyd Mayweather into what likely would have been a masterpiece of the art of boxing and defense. Well-spoken, he is now an ESPN fight analyst.

Laura Serrano became Mexico’s first female world titlist when she defeated Deirdre Gogarty for the WIBF lightweight belt in only her second pro bout. She also defeated this year’s co-honoree Alicia Ashley, while going 17-5-3 (6). She was instrumental in the removal of a 1947 ban against women boxing in Mexico City. Laura was not present on the IBHOF grounds, but appeared at the induction by a remote hookup, stating that she could not be present for “religious reasons”.

“Tiger” Jack Fox boxed from as early as 1932 until 1950. He split three fights (1-1-1) with Maxie Rosenbloom while defeating Lou Scozza, “Jersey” Joe Walcott, Lou Brouillard, and Bob Olin. In his only title fight, at light heavy, he was stopped by Melio Bettina at Madison Square Garden in 1939. His total record was…and compare this to the fighters going in today! … 160-23-10, 2 NC, with 109 KOs!

Pone Kingpetch was Thailand’s first World Champion back when boxing had real champions and nor just split tile holders. And he did it the hard way, defeating the seemingly invincible Pascual Perez! The historical contest took place in 1957 before 34,000 fans in Bangkok. He defended against Perez in a rematch, then lost and rewon the title against “Fighting” Harada. He did the same against Hiroyuki Ebihara before losing finally to Salvatore Burruni. He finished 28-7 (9).

Long before the Muhammad Ali Law opened up women’s boxing to the exposure and popularity we know today, there was women’s boxing that went on to a great extent “under the radar”. Honoring the pioneers who managed to carry out their dreams in spite of much adversity, IBHOF inducted JoAnn Hagen. From Akron, she began boxing after slugging a co-worker in a factory who was making unwanted amorous advances. A brother of the local promoter witnessed this and got her into a gym. Boxing out of South Bend, she fought all over the Midwest and became the only person to defeat the legendary Barbara Buttrick in Calgary. She retired in 1956 and enlisted in the Marines. What a retirement! With much of women’s boxing being “under the table” in that era, no record is available.

Popular TV commentator Tim Ryan worked with NBC and CBS while calling over 300 title fights including Ali-Frazier I, Hearns-Leonard, and Hagler-Leonard plus 10 Olympics. Teamed with Gil Clancy, they made up one of the most formidable and popular commentating teams in telecast history. Ryan also has the unique distinction of calling the “Fan Man” fight. At the IBHOF Induction, he was #1. He called for the end of split titles and the return of genuine Champions. It will never happen, but it was a courageous reminder.

Trainer Joe Goossen’s family ran one of the most prolific gyms during the glory days of the late 20^th century, out of Van Nuys, CA. He trained Michael Nunn, Gabriel and Rafael Ruelas, and Frankie Liles, while working with Shane Mosley, Joel Casamayor, Riddick Bowe, and Chris Arreola. And he is possibly best known for the intensity that spurred Diego Corrales on against Jose Luis Castillo in an All-Time Classic win. Yet Goossen spoke hardly a word about himself, but managed to compliment nearly everyone on the dais as well as honoring his deceased brother Dan.

Bob Arum was present as nearly Top Rank’s whole operation has gotten inducted to the Hall with this year’s entries Brad Jacobs and Brad Goodman. From Queens, NYC, matchmaker Goodman became enthralled with boxing after attending the Ali-Shavers fight at MSG. Top Rank at the time had an office in NYC, which enabled Goodman to land an office job working with legends Teddy Brenner and Irving Rudd. He relocated with Top Rank to Las Vegas and has become one of the most prolific matchmakers in boxing. He scouts both amateur and professional prospects and develops their skills and careers with proper matchmaking. Brad had possibly the longest list of “thank yous” on the dais, but his became the most spectacular acceptance when he went into the audience to propose marriage to his prospective fiancée.

Top Rank COO Brad Jacobs founded Global Productions and produced over 700 sports and special events. For USA network, he was a consultant for the popular Tuesday Night Fights, recognized for his expertise in negotiating rights fees, venue locations, advertising and sponsorship. He orchestrated the plan for boxing’s return from the pandemic with the “Top Rank Bubble” in LV. Jacobs began with the famous Alessi Promotions in Tampa at a time when he knew nothing about boxing. “Some people say I still know nothing about boxing,” he quipped.

Seth Abraham joined HBO when it was a startup and built it into one of the most powerful influences in boxing. HBO didn’t have the resources to compete in sports like baseball and basketball, but Abraham realized that no network owned boxing. Commented promoter Lou DiBella, “At a time when boxing still had lots of fans it was embroiled in scandal and had been basically thrown off network television. The idea to make premium cable the home of boxing was Seth’s. That literally revived boxing and led to a golden age not seen since.” With creative influences like Boxing After Dark, building a story-telling element into the telecasts set HBO above the rest. He negotiated deals with legends like Hagler, Leonard, Duran, Jones, De la Hoya, Whitaker and Tyson to compete on HBO. Abraham brought Jim Lampley to HBO. He later became Executive VP and COO of Madison Square Garden.

As always, the memorabilia show was a wonderland, although slackened off a bit in number of exhibitors. Nonetheless, fans were treated to a school gym full of every kind of boxing memorabilia that can be imagined and lots that can’t. If you have a favorite fighter, even back to the ‘20s and before, there’s likely something here. There were ceramic whiskey bottles in the shape of boxers both real and designed…unfortunately, lacking the contents. But you could buy a 6-pack of Evander Holyfield Coke, ready to drink! There were old annual record books from the ‘20s put out by Everlast. Bios about long-forgotten fighters who nonetheless were stars, back in the ‘20s. Plus, of course, just about everything you could imagine on all the modern headliners of the HBO Era to today. Anyone who is a memorabilia collector should begin planning for next year!

And once again, the Canastota Running Club sponsored the Nate Race in conjunction with the IBHOF event. This is a rare opportunity for fans to actually compete against a boxing star but in a less dangerous competition than getting in the ring with them. This year’s event had a sparse turnout by the boxers, however, but produced a notable result, nonetheless. Normally, the boxers are no better suited to compete against the very dedicated runners than the runners would be in the ring. But this year, Sebastian Fundora shattered that by finishing the 5k in SECOND PLACE overall, with a time of 17:47!!! Gabriela Fundora was 14^th overall in 21:19. Charlie Fitch won among referees with a time of 38:43, finishing 211^th. We didn’t have another boxer until Marlon Starling, who always participates in this event, finished 329^th in 52:39. John Scully ran 1:10:18, but the poorly printed results didn’t indicate whether that may have been in the 12k which also took place. Finally, Andrew Golota did run the 12k, finishing 51 of 59 in 1:24:47.

Anecdotes:

Various presentations occur throughout the event, where fans get to hear from, question, and talk to many celebs; boxers, referees, trainers, you name it.

Roberto Duran was in high spirits, always laughing and joking; a far cry from the menacing specter he presented in the ring.

Referee Tony Weeks gave a compelling breakdown of what a ref must consider when stopping a fight, a 180 from that of an armchair fan to whom it is merely an abstraction. Denny Nelson further indicated that a ref could be sued for all he owns while getting little or no help from the state.

Timothy Bradley told of when his father first took him to the gym as a kid and an old trainer named “OJ” looked in his eyes and said he was going to be “different.” Of course, he may have said that to every new kid.

But then trainer and ex-world titlist Robert Garcia stated that the first thing he does when a fighter returns to the corner after a punishing round is to look into his eyes…and then check his breathing.

Garcia also added that training fighters to win a title was more satisfying to him than BEING a title winner.

This is a wonderful event. See you next year!