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Boxing Hall of Fame Inductees for 2009
THU June 18, JAMES STILLERMAN - Last Sunday on June 14th in Canastota, New York seven new members of the class of 2009 headlined by former heavyweight champion of the world Lennox Lewis were enshrined into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. The other six inductees included Brian Mitchell, Orlando Canizales, Bob Goodman, Akihiko Honda, Hugh Mcllvanney and Larry Merchant. These new inductees are a diversity group of individuals covering many parts of the world as well as participating in various aspects of the sport: fighting, promoting and journalism.
Lennox “The Lion” Lewis from the United Kingdom started his climb up the heavyweight rankings when he won the Eastern British Commonwealth belt in 1990 over Jean Chanet. He made multiple defenses of the belt before garnering the vacant WBC strap from Donovan Ruddock in 1992 after its previous titleholder Riddick Bowe (Bowe lost to Lewis in the gold medal match in the 1988 Seoul Summer Olympics) refused to face Lewis. Lewis made three defenses of the title before being surprisingly knockout in the second round by Oliver McCall. Four victories later he got his revenge and stopped McCall in the fifth round to reclaim his WBC title. Lewis then had four successful defenses of the belt before meeting Evander Holyfield in a highly anticipated match up for the unification of the WBC and IBF belts in 1999. The fight was a draw although most people believe Lewis did more to win. Eight months later he defeated Holyfield in the rematch. Lewis racked up three more defenses before losing in shocking fashion to Hasim Rahman in the fifth round. Lewis crushed Rahman in the rematch and then closed out his career with victories over Mike Tyson and Vital Klitschko.
Lewis who retired in 2003 was the last great heavyweight fighter who dominated the division from the late 1990s into the early 2000s. He finished his career with an impressive record of 41-2-1, 32KOs and along the way defeated many world class fighters including Tony Tucker, Tommy Morrison, Ray Mercer, Andrew Golota, Shannon Briggs, Michael Grant, Francois Botha, David Tua, Tyson and Klitschko. Lewis avenged both of his losses by devastating knockouts and in the process became only the third heavyweight fighter of all time to avenge all of his losses, the other two fighters being Gene Tunney and Rocky Marciano.
Lewis and his imposing built of six feet five inches and 250 pounds and great fighting ability helped him registered numerous knockouts and enter the discussion as being arguably the best heavyweight fighter since Larry Holmes. He should also be considered one of the top ten heavyweight fighters of all time. Lewis was slow to gain the recognition he deserved but he gains more appreciation for what he did in the ring with each passing day considering the mess the division is in today. He still stays connected to boxing by serving as the commentator on HBO`s Boxing after Dark Telecasts.
Brian Mitchell who became the first South African boxer to be enshrined into the International Boxing Hall of Fame finished with a 45-1-3, 21KOs record. In 1983 he won the South Africa junior lightweight title against Chris Whiteboy and racked up eight title defenses. Mitchell then won the WBA light welterweight over Alfredo Layne in 1986 and recorded an additional twelve more defenses. He claimed the IBF belt in 1991 by defeating Tony Lopez after having a draw in their first bout. His lone loss was to Jacob Morake which came very early in his career. Mitchell retired in 1995 and now owns a boxing gym and manages, promotes and trains fighters.
Orlando Canizales won the NABF flyweight belt from Armando Velasco in 1987 and in 1988 he added the USBA super flyweight over Luis Curtis. Later that year he moved up a division and claimed the IBF bantamweight strap over Kelvin Seabrooks. He defended the belt a division record sixteen times. In 1995 he fought at super bantamweight and lost a close fight to Wilfredo Vazquez. Canizales boxed for four more years before retiring in 1999 with a 50-5-1, 37KOs record.
Bob Goodman handled public relations for boxing promotional companies such as Don King Promotions and Top Rank. Goodman later worked for Don King where he severed as a matchmaker and director of boxing from 1970- 1985. He became the vice president and matchmaker of Madison Square Garden Boxing in 1986. Goodman then formed his own company, Garden State Boxing before returning to work for Don King in 1996. In 1979 he won the BWAA`s James Walker Award for his long service and dedication to boxing.
Akihiko Honda is the president of Teiken Promotions which is one of the most successful boxing promotional companies in Japan. Over the years he has promoted numerous high profile fights in Japan such as the Tyson-Tubbs and Tyson-Douglas fights. He still promotes two boxing events a month as well as a weekly two hour boxing television program. He managed Masao Ohba, Jiro Watanab and Eloy Rojas and currently manages Jorge Linares, Roman Gonzales and Edwin Valero.
Hugh Mcllvanney is a United Kingdom journalist who has been named the UK sports writer of the year seven times. He`s also the only sports journalist named Britain’s Journalist of the Year. Over the last three decades, he has written for the Kilmamock Standard, The Daily Express, The Scotsman, Sports Illustrated and The Observer and along the way covered hundreds of prestigious fights. In 1993-2002 he was the chief sports writer for The Sunday Times and now he writes weekly sports columns for the paper. In 1996, he won the Nat Fleischer Memorial Award for excellence in boxing journalism and in 2004 he won the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Scottish Press.
Larry Merchant joined HBO in 1978 as a boxing analyst and he has not left since. Over the decades, he has covered hundreds of world title fights as well as doing the pre and post fight interviews and writing for HBO`s documentary series, Legendary Nights. Merchant won the 1985 Sam Taub Memorial Award for Excellence in Boxing Broadcast Journalism.
The deceased enshrined members include William Jones, Billy Smith, Billy Soose, Bill Gibson, Abe Greene, Paul Gallico and Tom Hyer.
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