Floyd Mayweather, Laila Ali among group elected to Boxing Hall of Fame
Boxing legends Floyd Mayweather Jr., Wladimir Klitschko, and Andre Ward were elected to the International Boxing Hall of Fame in their first year of eligibility, the IBHOF announced Tuesday.
Retired unbeatens Floyd Mayweather and Laila Ali and former heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko have been elected to the International Boxing Hall of Fame and Museum.
The class of 2021, which was announced Tuesday, also includes former Olympic champion Andre Ward, Ann Wolfe, Marian Trimiar and Dr. Margaret Goodman. Elected posthumously were lightweight champion Davey Moore, Jackie Tonawanda, cut man Freddie Brown, manager-trainer Jackie McCoy, journalist George Kimball and television executive Jay Larkin.
Honorees were selected by members of the Boxing Writers Association and a panel of international boxing historians. Induction day is scheduled for June 13 and will include last year’s class, which was postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic. The class of 2020 includes Bernard Hopkins, Juan Manuel Marquez, Shane Mosley, Christy Martin, Lucia Rijker, Barbara Buttrick, Frank Erne, Paddy Ryan, Lou DiBella, Kathy Duva, Dan Goossen, Bernard Fernandez and Thomas Hauser.
“It is a great honor for me to be inducted … as a first-ballot nominee,” Mayweather said. “Throughout my career, I gave everything I could to the sport of boxing, and now, to be recognized by one of the most prestigious honors in the sport for that hard work and dedication is very humbling.”
The 6-foot-6 Klitschko capped a 134-6 (65 KOs) amateur career by winning super heavyweight gold at the 1996 Olympic Games. He turned pro the same year in Germany and won 24 straight bouts before losing to Ross Purity. He rebounded to defeat Chris Byrd for the WBO heavyweight title and in 2006 stopped Byrd again for the IBF/IBO titles to begin a dominant nine-year title reign that included 18 successful defenses.
Nicknamed “Dr. Steelhammer,” the native of Kazakhstan was heavyweight champion longer than anyone else in history (12 years, two days) and finished with a pro record of 64-5 (53 KOs).
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Ali also retired unbeaten, with a 24-0 record (21 KOs) that included a 2003 win over Christy Martin. The 5-foot-10 Ali used a precise jab and powerful right hand to register an 87.5% knockout rate, living up to her nickname, “She Bee Stingin’.” She is the daughter of Muhammad Ali and the eighth of his nine children.
Tonawanda, who will be enshrined as a Trailblazer, began boxing in the early 1970s and, with sanctioned women’s bouts scarce, spent the majority of her career on the underground female boxing circuit. Denied a professional boxing license from the New York State Athletic Commission in 1974 because of her gender, she filed a sex discrimination suit in 1975, and after a protracted legal battle that involved lawsuits by other women, the judge ruled in her favor.
Along with Cat Davis and Trimiar, Tonawanda was among the first women granted a license by New York on Sept. 19, 1978. She was the first female boxer to compete at Madison Square Garden, registering a second-round stoppage of Larry Rodaina in an MMA bout. The 5-foot-9 Tonawanda, dubbed “The Female Ali,” sparred with Muhammad Ali at his training camp and worked as his bodyguard. She died of colon cancer in 2009 at age 75.
WHO IS FLOYD MAYWEATHER
Floyd Joy Mayweather Jr. (born Floyd Joy Sinclair; February 24, 1977) is an American professional boxing promoter and former professional boxer. He competed between 1996 and 2015, and made a one-fight comeback in 2017. During his career he won fifteen major world titles including The Ring in five weight classes, the lineal championship in four weight classes (twice at welterweight), and retired with an undefeated record. As an amateur, Mayweather won a bronze medal in the featherweight division at the 1996 Olympics, three U.S. Golden Gloves championships (at light flyweight, flyweight, and featherweight), and the U.S. national championship at featherweight.
Mayweather was named “Fighter of the Decade” for the 2010s by the Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA), a two-time winner of The Ring magazine’s Fighter of the Year award (1998 and 2007), a three-time winner of the BWAA Fighter of the Year award (2007, 2013, and 2015), and a six-time winner of the Best Fighter ESPY Award (2007–2010, 2012–2014). In 2016, Mayweather was ranked by ESPN as the greatest boxer, pound for pound, of the last 25 years. As of July 2020, BoxRec ranks him the 2nd greatest boxer of all time, pound for pound behind Ezzard Charles. Many sporting news and boxing websites, including The Ring, Sports Illustrated, ESPN, BoxRec, Fox Sports, and Yahoo! Sports, ranked Mayweather as the best pound for pound boxer in the world twice in a span of ten years. In 2020, Mayweather was ranked second on Ranker‘s list of best boxers of the 21st century.
He is often referred to as the best defensive boxer in history, as well as being the most accurate puncher since the existence of CompuBox, having the highest plus–minus ratio in recorded boxing history. Mayweather has a record of 26 consecutive wins in world title fights (10 by KO), 23 wins (9 KOs) in lineal title fights, 24 wins (7 KOs) against former or current world titlists, 12 wins (3 KOs) against former or current lineal champions, and 4 wins (1 KO) against International Boxing Hall of Fame inductees.
Mayweather is one of the most lucrative pay-per-view attractions of all time, in any sport. He topped the Forbes and Sports Illustrated lists of the 50 highest-paid athletes of 2012 and 2013, and the Forbes list again in both 2014 and 2015, listing him as the highest paid athlete in the world. In 2006, he founded his own boxing promotional firm, Mayweather Promotions, after leaving Bob Arum‘s Top Rank. Mayweather has generated approximately 24Â million PPV buys and $1.67Â billion in revenue throughout his career, surpassing the likes of former top PPV attractions including Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield, Lennox Lewis, Oscar De La Hoya and Manny Pacquiao.
