The International Boxing Hall of Fame and Museum announced today the newest class of inductees to enter the Hall.
Living inductees include heavyweight champion Riddick โBig Daddyโ Bowe, featherweight champion โPrinceโ Naseem Hamed and lightweight champion Ray โBoom Boomโ Mancini in the Modern category; light flyweight champion Yoko Gushiken in the Old-Timer category; booking agent / manager Rafael Mendoza and referee Steve Smoger in the Non-Participant category; and editor / journalist Nigel Collins and broadcaster Jim Lampley in the Observer category.
The Hall of Fame also released names of posthumous honorees: Masao Ohba and Ken Overlin in the Old-Timer Category; and publicist John F.X. Condon in the Non Participant Category. Inductees were voted in by members of the Boxing Writers Association and a panel of international boxing historians.
They will be inducted in June 11-14, ย 2015, in Canastota in upstate New York.
COMMENTS UPON RECEIVING INDUCTION NEWS
โIโm ecstatic! As a kid, this is what I dreamed of. Iโm just so happy. For me, hard work and determination got me in the Hall of Fame.โ
โ Riddick Bowe
โThis is amazing news. Itโs an absolute honor to be recognized with some of the best fighters that ever lived. Iโm overwhelmed to hear this news. What can I say? Iโm so happy that I officially got the call from the International Boxing Hall of Fame to tell me this. For every fighter this is the phone call of a dream because when you get a phone call saying youโre going to be inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame, itโs not every day you get that call!โ
โ Naseem Hamed
โWow. Iโm humbled and Iโm honored. To be in the International Boxing Hall of Fame with so many of my friends and heroes is overwhelming. โ
โ Ray Mancini
โThis is great. This makes my day, my year and my life because Iโve been in boxing for almost 55 years. This is really something exciting for me. I will be very proud to be there because some of my fighters that I represented are already there like Alexis Arguello, Pipino Cuevas and โChiquitaโ Gonzalez. Iโm very, very happy. This is the best news in my boxing life.โ
โ Rafael Mendoza
โIโm eternally grateful. Itโs really the highest honor and itโs the culmination of a lifetime in the great sport of boxing. Iโm humbled, honored and overwhelmed. Words canโt express my gratitude.โ
โ Steve Smoger
โI havenโt wiped the smile off my face since the Hall of Fame phoned and gave me the news. There is no higher honor in boxing than being elected to the International Boxing Hall of Fame and I am deeply appreciative.โ
โ Nigel Collins
โI am surprised and delighted to learn of my election to the IBHOF. I look forward with great excitement to making my first trip to Canastota this summer to accept the honor on behalf of my family, my friends, and everyone at HBO and at ringside who has helped to support my long, lucky tenure in boxing. I couldnโt be more appreciative.โ
โ Jim Lampley
The 2015 Hall of Fame Weekend is scheduled for June 11-14th in Canastota, NY. Over 10 events, including a golf tournament, banquet, parade and autograph card show, are planned. An impressive celebrity lineup of boxing greats of yesterday and today will attend this yearโs Induction Weekend. The highlight of the weekend will be the Official Enshrinement Ceremony on the Hall of Fame Museum Grounds in Canastota, New York on Sunday, June 14th to welcome the newest members.
โWeโre extremely excited about the Class of 2015 and are very much looking forward to paying tribute to the new inductees in Canastota next June,โ said Executive Director Edward Brophy.