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Boxing Fans Converge on Canastota for the Grandest of all IBHOF Weekends
Boxing Fans Converge on Canastota for the Grandest of all IBHOF Weekends
Induction Weekend at the International Boxing Hall of Fame and Museum is a four-day jamboree. It commences today, Thursday, June 9, and reaches its climax on Sunday when the new inductees are formally recognized.
The IBHOF is located in Canastota, New York, a town of about 5,000. The nearest major city is Syracuse which is 25 miles away. Hall of Fame Induction Weekend, an annual event, reportedly draws as many visitors to Canastota as in all the other weekends of the year combined. The 2020 and 2021 jamborees were lost to the pandemic, a serious blow to the Hall and to the economy of the community and the neighboring towns. The good news is that Induction Weekend is back and with three classes rolled into one, it shapes up as the biggest weekend ever.
On the men’s side in the Modern category, the boxers being recognized are Bernard Hopkins, Shane Mosley, and Juan Manuel Marquez (class of 2020), Wladimir Klitschko, Floyd Mayweather Jr, and Andre Ward (class of 2021) and Roy Jones Jr, James Toney, and Miguel Cotto.
Ed Brophy, the director and co-founder of the IBHOF, anticipates that all of the boxers will be in attendance with the exception of Wladimir Klitschko who has more pressing obligations in his native Ukraine. It will be interesting to see if Mayweather shows up. He attracts the paparazzi wherever he goes and he doesn’t travel light.
In 2019, the IBHOF created a new category for female boxers. The inaugural class, set to be formally inducted in 2020, included Christy Martin, Laila Ali, and Lucia Rijker. They too are expected to be in attendance as is 2021 inductee Ann Wolfe and newbies Holly Holm and Regina Halmich.
With three classes collapsed into one, the induction ceremony became too large to hold it in its usual place on the grounds of the shrine. It has been moved to the Event Center of the Turning Stone Resort and Casino which is only one exit removed from Canastota on the New York State Freeway.
It has become traditional to hold a live boxing event at Turning Stone in conjunction with Induction Weekend. The first companion card was staged in 1998.
This year’s card, a Friday Night affair, will air as part of the long-running “ShoBox: The New Generation” series on Showtime. The featured bout is an 8-round match between Uzbekistan’s Bakhodir Jalolov (10-0, 10 KOs) and Belgian-Congolese campaigner Big Jack Mulowayi (11-2-1, 7 KOs).
Jalolov, a six-foot-seven southpaw, has the look of a future champion. He won the gold medal in the super heavyweight division at the Tokyo Olympics as he was favored to do, having brought a 9-0 record as a pro into the competition. The undercard, on paper, is outstanding. All of the matches look competitive with the possible exception of the 6-round welterweight contest between Oshae Jones and Sonya Dreiling. Toledo’s Jones, 24, a bronze medalist in Tokyo, is making her professional debut.
Among the weekend’s activities are a 5K fun race through the streets of Canastota, an autograph and collectors show which will be held Saturday at Canastota High School, and the Parade of Champions which attracts high school bands from around the area.
The Grand Marshall of this year’s parade is a local man, Tony Graziano, whose boxing-themed restaurant, torn down last year after he sold it, was a Canastota fixture for 70 years. Mr. Graziano, a World War II veteran who parachuted behind enemy lines in Normandy on D-Day, recently turned 100 years old.
In addition to the boxers, the IBHOF recognizes influential people in the sport, e.g., promoters, managers, ring officials, and journalists. The 2020 class included writers Bernard Fernandez and Thomas Hauser, both frequent contributors to these pages. Fernandez won’t be there this weekend because his wife has taken sick and is too ill too travel. Fernandez, who wrote a very poignant tribute to his wife that first appeared in these pages in 2018, considers it more important to stay by her side even though she has encouraged him to go without her. Bernard and his beloved Annie, the former Anne Marie d’Aquin, have been married going on 54 years. Hauser will be there.
Dozens of former and active boxers typically show up in Canastota on Induction Weekend. There is something about the setting that brings out the best in them, that makes them more approachable and more convivial than they were in their fighting days. For many attendees, the highlight of Induction Weekend is simply the opportunity to mingle with the fighters, past and present.
It all begins today, June 9. If you can’t make it, check it out on social media.
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Japanese Superstar Naoya Inoue is Headed to Vegas after KOing Ye Joon Kim
Japan’s magnificent Naoya Inoue, appearing in his twenty-fourth title fight, scored his 11th straight stoppage tonight while successfully defending his unified super bantamweight title, advancing his record to 29-0 (26 KOs) at the expense of Ye Joon Kim. The match at Tokyo’s Ariake Arena came to an end at the 2:25 mark of round four when U.S. referee Mark Nelson tolled “10” over the brave but overmatched Korean.
Kim, raised in a Seoul orphanage, had a few good moments, but the “Monster” found his rhythm in the third round, leaving Kim with a purplish welt under his left eye. In the next frame, he brought the match to a conclusion, staggering the Korean with a left and then finishing matters with an overhand right that put Kim on the seat of his pants, dazed and wincing in pain.
Kim, who brought a 21-2-2 record, took the fight on 10 days’ notice, replacing Australia’s Sam Goodman who suffered an eye injury in sparring that never healed properly, forcing him to withdraw twice.
Co-promoter Bob Arum, who was in the building, announced that Inoue’s next fight would happen in Las Vegas in the Spring. Speculation centers on Mexico City’s Alan Picasso (31-0-1, 17 KOs) who is ranked #1 by the WBC. However, there’s also speculation that the 31-year-old Inoue may move up to featherweight and seek to win a title in a fifth weight class, in which case a potential opponent is the winner of the Feb. 2 match between Brandon Figueroa and Stephen Fulton. In “olden days,” this notion would have been dismissed as the Japanese superstar and Figueroa/Fulton have different promoters, but the arrival of Turki Alalshikh, the sport’s Daddy Warbucks, has changed the dynamic. Tonight, Naoya Inoue made his first start as a brand ambassador for Riyadh Season.
Simmering on the backburner is a megafight with countryman Junto Nakatani, an easy fight to make as Arum has ties to both. However, the powers-that-be would prefer more “marination.”
Inoue has appeared twice in Las Vegas, scoring a seventh-round stoppage of Jason Moloney in October of 2020 at the MGM Bubble and a third-round stoppage of Michael Dasmarinas at the Virgin Hotels in June of 2021.
Semi-wind-up
In a 12-round bout for a regional welterweight title, Jin Sasaki improved to 19-1-1 (17) with a unanimous decision over Shoki Sakai (29-15-3). The scores were 118-110, 117-111, and 116-112.
Also
In a bout in which both contestants were on the canvas, Toshiki Shimomachi (20-1-3) edged out Misaki Hirano (11-2), winning a majority decision. A 28-year-old Osaka southpaw with a fan-friendly style, the lanky Shimomachi, unbeaten in his last 22 starts, competes as a super bantamweight. A match with Inoue may be in his future.
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Eric Priest Wins Handily on Thursday’s Golden Boy card at the Commerce Casino
Model turned fighter Eric Priest jabbed and jolted his way into the super middleweight rankings with a shutout decision win over veteran Tyler Howard on Thursday.
In his first main event Priest (15-0, 8 KOs) proved ready for contender status by defusing every attack Tennessee’s Howard (20-3, 11 KOs) could muster at Commerce Casino, the second fight in six days at the LA County venue.
All ticket monies collected on the Folden Boy Promotions card were contributed to the Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation as they battle wildfires sprouting all over Los Angeles County due to high winds.
Priest, 26, had never fought anyone near Howard’s caliber but used a ramrod jab to keep the veteran off-balance and unable to muster a forceful counter-attack. Round after round the Korean-American fighter pumped left jabs while circling his opposition.
Though hit with power shots, none seemed to faze Howard but his own blows were unable to put a dent in Priest. After 10 rounds of the same repetitive action all three judges scored the fight 100-90 for Priest who now wins a regional super middleweight title.
Priest also joins the top 15 rankings of the WBA organization.
In a fight between evenly matched middleweights, Jordan Panthen (11-0, 9 KOs) remained undefeated after 10 rounds versus DeAundre Pettus (12-4, 7 KOs). Though equally skilled, Panthen simply out-worked the South Caroliina fighter to win by unanimous decision. No knockdowns were scored.
Other Bouts
Grant Flores (8-0, 6 KOs) knocked out Costa Rica’s David Lobo Ramirez (17-4, 12 KOs) with two successive right uppercuts at 2:59 of the second round of the super welterweight fight.
Cayden Griffith (3-0, 3 KOs) used a left hook to the body to stop Mark Misiura at 1:43 of the second round in a super welterweight bout.
Jordan Fuentes (3-0) floored Brandon Badillo (0-3-1) in the third round and proceeded to win by decision after four rounds in a super bantamweight fight.
A super featherweight match saw Leonardo Sanchez (8-0) win by decision over Joseph Cruz Brown (10-12) after six rounds.
Photo credit: Cris Esqueda / Golden Boy
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Avila Perspective, Chap. 310: Japanese Superstar Naoya Inoue and More
Many proclaim super bantamweight world champ Naoya Inoue to be the best fighter in the world today. It’s a serious debate among boxing pundits.
Is he Japan’s best fighter ever?
Inoue (28-0, 25 KOs) takes another step toward immortality when he meets Korea’s Ye Joon Kim (21-2-2, 13 KOs) on Friday Jan. 24, at Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan. ESPN+ will stream the Top Rank and Ohashi Promotions card.
Inoue defends the IBF, WBC, WBA and WBO world titles.
This is Inoue’s third defense of the undisputed super bantamweight division that he won when he defeated Philippines’ Marlon Tapales in December 2023.
Japan has always been a fighting nation, a country derived from a warrior culture like Mexico, England, Russia, Germany and a few others. Professional boxing has always thrived in Japan.
My first encounter with Japanese fighters took place in March 1968 at the Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles. It was my first visit to the famous boxing venue, though my father had performed there during the 1950s. I was too young to attend any of his fights and then he retired.
The main event featured featherweights Jose Pimentel of Mexico against Sho Saijo of Japan. Both had fought a month earlier with the Mexican from Jalisco winning by split decision.
Pimentel was a friend of my female cousin and gave my father tickets to the fight. My family loved boxing as most Latino families worldwide do, including those in the USA. It’s a fact that most sports editors for newspapers and magazines fail to realize. Latinos love boxing.
We arrived late at the boxing venue located on Grand Avenue and 18th street. My father was in construction and needed to pick me up in East L.A. near Garfield High School. Fights were already underway when we arrived at the Olympic Auditorium.
It was a packed arena and our seats were fairly close to the boxing ring. As the fighters were introduced and descended to the ring, respectful applause greeted Saijo. He had nearly defeated Pimentel in their first clash a month earlier in this same venue. Los Angeles fans respect warriors. Saijo was a warrior.
Both fighters fought aggressively with skill. Every round it seemed Saijo got stronger and Pimentel got weaker. After 10 strong rounds of back-and-forth action, Saijo was declared the winner this time. Some fans booed but most agreed that the Japanese fighter was stronger on this day. And he was stronger still when they met a third time in 1969 when Saijo knocked out Pimentel in the second round for the featherweight world title.
That was my first time witnessing Japan versus Mexico. Over the decades, I’ve seen many clashes between these same two countries and always expect riveting battles from Japanese fighters.
I was in the audience in Cancun, Mexico when then WBC super featherweight titlist Takashi Miura clashed with Sergio Thompson for 12 rounds in intense heat in a covered bull ring. After that fight that saw three knockdowns between them, the champion, though victorious, was taken out on a stretcher due to dehydration.
There are so many others going back to Fighting Harada in the 1960s that won championships. And what about all the other Japanese fighters who never got the opportunity to fight for a world title due to the distance from America and Europe?
Its impossible to determine if Inoue is the greatest Japanese fighter ever. But without a doubt, he is the most famous. Publications worldwide include him on lists of the top three fighters Pound for Pound.
Few experts are familiar with Korea’s Kim, but expect a battle nonetheless. These two countries are rivals in Asian boxing.
Golden Boy at Commerce Casino
Middleweights Eric Priest and Tyler Howard lead a Golden Boy Promotions fight card on Thursday, Jan. 23, at Commerce Casino in Commerce, CA. DAZN will stream the boxing card.
All ticket money will go to the Los Angele Fire Department Foundation.
Kansas-based Priest (14-0, 8 KOs) meets Tennessee’s Tyler Howard (20-2, 11 KOs) in the main event in a match set for 10 rounds.
Others on the card are super welterweights Jordan Panthen (10-0) and Grant Flores (7-0) in separate bouts and super lightweight Cayden Griffith seeking a third consecutive win. Doors open at 5 p.m.
Diego Pacheco at Las Vegas
Super middleweight contender Diego Pacheco (22-0, 18 KOs) defends his regional titles against Steve Nelson (20-0, 16 KOs) at the Chelsea Theater at the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Las Vegas on Saturday, Jan. 25. DAZN will stream the Matchroom Boxing card.
It’s not an easy fight for Pacheco.
“I’ve been fighting for six years as a professional and I’m 22-0 and I’m 23 years old. I feel I’m stepping into my prime now,” said Pacheco, who trains with Jose Benavidez.
Also on the card is Olympic gold medalist Andy Cruz and Southern California’s dangerous super lightweight contender Ernesto Mercado in separate fights.
Fights to Watch (All times Pacific Time)
Thurs. DAZN 6 p.m. Eric Priest (14-0) vs Tyler Howard (20-2).
Fri. ESPN+ 1:15 a.m. Naoya Inoue (28-0) vs Ye Joon Kim (21-2-2).
Sat. DAZN 9:15 a.m. Dalton Smith (16-0) vs Walid Ouizza (19-2); Ellie Scotney (9-0) vs Mea Motu (20-0).
Sat. DAZN 5 p.m. Diego Pacheco (22-0) vs Steve Nelson (20-0).
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