Nassem Hamed, Riddick Bowe and Ray Mancini top International Boxing Hall of Fame 2015 list

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 โ€œBig Daddyโ€ Bowe, featherweight champion โ€œPrinceโ€ Naseem Hamed and lightweight champion Ray โ€œBoom 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

โ€œIโ€™m ecstatic! As a kid, this is what I dreamed of. Iโ€™m just so happy. For me, hard work and determination got me in the Hall of Fame.โ€

โ€“ Riddick Bowe

โ€œThis is amazing news. Itโ€™s an absolute honor to be recognized with some of the best fighters that ever lived. Iโ€™m overwhelmed to hear this news. What can I say? Iโ€™m 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 youโ€™re going to be inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame, itโ€™s not every day you get that call!โ€

โ€“ Naseem Hamed

โ€œWow. Iโ€™m humbled and Iโ€™m honored. To be in the International Boxing Hall of Fame with so many of my friends and heroes is overwhelming. โ€œ

โ€“ Ray Mancini

โ€œThis is great. This makes my day, my year and my life because Iโ€™ve 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 โ€˜Chiquitaโ€™ Gonzalez. Iโ€™m very, very happy. This is the best news in my boxing life.โ€

โ€“ Rafael Mendoza

โ€œIโ€™m eternally grateful. Itโ€™s really the highest honor and itโ€™s the culmination of a lifetime in the great sport of boxing. Iโ€™m humbled, honored and overwhelmed. Words canโ€™t express my gratitude.โ€

โ€“ Steve Smoger

โ€œI havenโ€™t 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

โ€œI 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 couldnโ€™t 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 yearโ€™s 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.

โ€œWeโ€™re 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.

 

 

 

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