The 2017 Boxing Hall of Fame Class
|(AP) — A look at the nine people to be inducted June 11, 2017 into the International Boxing Hall of Fame and Museum:
MODERN CATEGORY (last bout no earlier than 1989)
MARCO ANTONIO BARRERA: Born Jan. 17, 1974 in Mexico City. … nicknamed “The Baby Faced Assassin” was a five-time Mexican national champion who posted a 56-4 amateur record before turning pro in 1989 at age 15. … won his first 43 bouts and captured the NABF super flyweight title before winning world championships in three weight divisions. … in 1995 won the WBO super bantamweight title with a 12-round victory over Daniel Jimenez and successfully defended the title eight times, including knockout wins over Eddie Croft, Kennedy McKinney, and Jesse Benavides. … lost the crown to Junior Jones in 1996 (DQ 5) but rebounded to capture vacant WBO belt from Richie Wenton in 1998. … lost the crown to Erik Morales in 2000 but remained champion after Morales refused the belt. … defended three times before vacating to go up to featherweight to defeat Naseem Hamed in 2001. … defeated Morales in a 2002 rematch for the WBC featherweight title, but refused the title. … wins over Johnny Tapia, Kevin Kelley, and Paulie Ayala preceded the 2004 rubber match with Morales for the WBC super featherweight belt. … added the IBF title in a unification bout with Robbie Peden in 2005. … lost the WBC title to Juan Manuel Marquez in 2007. … retired in 2011 with a record of 67-7 (44 KOs). … serves as an analyst for TV Azteca.
EVANDER HOLYFIELD: Born Oct. 19, 1962 in Atmore, Georgia. … nicknamed “The Real Deal” … capped his 160-14 (75 KOs) amateur career with a bronze medal at the 1984 Olympic Games and turned pro that year at Madison Square Garden. … in only his 12th fight defeated Dwight Qawi for the WBA cruiserweight title and became unified champion with knockout wins over IBF champion Rickey Parkey and WBC champion Carlos DeLeon. … wins over heavyweights James Tillis, Pinklon Thomas, Michael Dokes, and Alex Stewart set up a 1990 WBC-WBA-IBF championship fight with Buster Douglas, which he won with a third-round knockout. … made successful defenses against George Foreman, Bert Cooper, and Larry Holmes. … lost the titles to Riddick Bowe in 1992 but regained the WBA-IBF belts in the 1993 rematch in Las Vegas, which was interrupted in the seventh round by a sky diver. … dropped the titles to Michael Moorer in 1994. … in 1996 upset Mike Tyson for the WBA title and won the rematch the next year when Tyson was disqualified for biting Holyfield’s right ear. … added the IBF title with a rematch win over Moorer in 1997. … after splitting unification bouts with Lennox Lewis in 1999, had three bouts with John Ruiz, winning, losing and fighting to a draw in 12-round WBA title bouts in 2000 and 2001. … retired in 2011 with a record of 44-10-2 (29 KOs).
JOHNNY TAPIA: Born Feb. 13, 1967 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. … learned to box from his grandfather and compiled a 101-21 (65 KOs) amateur record. … turned pro in 1988 and captured the USBA and NABF super flyweight titles before stopping Henry Martinez in 1994 for the vacant WBO super flyweight crown. .. successfully defended the belt 13 times, including wins over Willy Salazar, Arthur Johnson, Ivan Alvarez, and Hugo Soto. … added the IBF belt with 12-round win over hometown rival Danny Romero in 1997. … vacated the belts after two title defenses to campaign as a bantamweight and captured the WBA crown with a 12-round win over Nana Konadu in 1998. … lost for the first time when he dropped the title to Paulie Ayala in 1999. … won the WBO bantamweight title in 2000 and became a three-division world champion with a 12-round decision over Manuel Medina for the IBF featherweight championship in 2002. … retired in 2011 with a record of 59-5-2 (30 KOs). … died in May 2012 from heart problems at age 45.
OLD-TIMER CATEGORY (last bout no earlier than 1943; no later than 1988)
EDDIE BOOKER: Born Hilton Edward Booker on Nov. 5, 1917 in Alto, Texas. … moved to California at age 10 and won numerous local, state and national amateur titles there. … turned pro in 1935 after relocating to San Francisco and remained there throughout his career. … won both the California welterweight and middleweight championships. … met Archie Moore three times, drawing twice (1941, 1942), and became the first man to stop Moore with an eight-round knockout in 1944. … also went 1-1-1 against Hall of Famer Holman Williams. … scored wins over Lloyd Marshal and Harry “Kid” Matthews before being forced to retire due to a detached retina in 1944. .. was never stopped in his career despite the high caliber of opposition he met and finished with a pro record of 66-5-8 (32 KOs). … died in San Francisco in 1975 at age 57.
NON-PARTICIPANT CATEGORY:
JIMMY LENNON SR.: Born James Frederick Lennon on April 12, 1913 in St. Paul, Minnesota. … began his ring announcing career in 1943, working a card at the Santa Monica Elks Club. … assumed ring announcing duties at Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles in 1949 and remained there until 1984. … renowned for his style, elegant cadence, and precise pronunciation when introducing boxers. … became synonymous with the sport and his popularity landed him roles in such motion pictures as Kid Galahad, Rocky III, Raging Bull and The Main Event. … Lennon’s son, Jimmy Jr., followed him into the ring announcing world. … died of heart failure in 1992 at age 79.
JOHNNY LEWIS: Born John Alfred Lewis on March 18, 1944 in Sydney, Australia. … boxed as a teenager and assumed duties as a trainer at age 17. … guided such notable boxers as Joe Bugner and Paul Briggs, as well as world champions Gairy St. Clair, Billy Dib, Jeff Harding, and Hall of Famers Jeff Fenech, Kostya Tszyu, and Virgil Hill. …also served as a fitness trainer for high-profile rugby players in Australia.
JERRY ROTH: Born Gerald Howard Roth on May 12, 1941 in Scranton, Pennsylvania. … began working as a judge for the Nevada State Athletic Commission in 1980. … became one of boxing’s leading judges, officiating 225 world title bouts, including Larry Holmes-Gerry Cooney, Julio Cesar Chavez-Meldrick Taylor, Roy Jones Jr.-James Toney, Evander Holyfield-George Foreman, Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Oscar De La Hoya, Lennox Lewis-Holyfield, and the Riddick Bowe-Holyfield trilogy. … judged his last contest in 2015, the WBO featherweight title bout between Vasyl Lomachenko and Gamalier Rodriguez.
OBSERVER CATEGORY:
STEVE FARHOOD: Born Feb. 15, 1957 in Brooklyn. … graduated from New York University with a degree in journalism in 1978. … worked at Town & Village newspaper and upon graduating was hired by London Publishing Company, which produced boxing and wrestling magazines. … in 1989 was named editor-in-chief of The Ring magazine and held the position until 1997. … freelanced for various boxing publications and also worked in television, appearing on ESPN, SportsChannel, USA’s Tuesday Night Fights, and CNN. … in 2001 became a boxing analyst on Showtime.
BARRY TOMPKINS: Born May 2, 1940 in San Francisco. … began his broadcasting career in 1965. … after stints in New York City doing television and radio for NBC, left for HBO to take over for Hall of Fame broadcaster Don Dunphy on World Championship Boxing alongside Larry Merchant and Sugar Ray Leonard. … called Marvelous Marvin Hagler-Roberto Duran, Larry Holmes-Gerry Cooney, Sugar Ray Leonard-Hagler, Alexis Arguello-Aaron Pryor, and Mike Tyson-Trevor Berbick. … from 1988-96 called action on ESPN’s Top Rank Boxing series. … from 1995-2009 called Fox Sports Sunday Night Fights and since 2012 has been blow-by-blow announcer for ShoBox: The Next Generation on SHOWTIME. … a four-time Emmy Award winner. … recipient of the 1992 Sam Taub Award for “Excellence in Broadcast Journalism.” … also appeared in Rocky IV as a ringside commentator.