For Whom the Bell Tolled: 2025 Obituaries PART ONE (Jan.-June)

 If you had been in Canastota, New York recently and had driven past the International Boxing Hall of Fame, it’s a fair guess that you would have seen the flag flying at half-staff, a custom that pays tribute to a recently deceased inductee. Among those in the boxing fraternity that left us this year were nine individuals who have been enshrined in the Hall plus another who will be inducted posthumously in June, an astounding number for a single year.

Herewith is Part One of our annual end-of-year report where we pay homage to boxing notables who have left us in the past year.

January

 24 – MARCEL CERDAN JR

– Marcel was four years old when his father wrested the world middleweight title from Tony Zale. Although not nearly as talented as his ill-fated father, he carved out a nice career, finishing 56-5-3 as a welterweight. In retirement he acted in several movies, notably the 1983 film Edith et Marcel where he portrayed his father. At age 81 in Issy-les Moulineaux, France, from pneumonia complicated by Alzheimer’s

26 – ANTONIO AMAYA

– The Panamanian globetrotter, active from 1963 to 1978, spent 64 months in The Ring top 10, rising to #2 at junior lightweight. His final record, 48-22-7, is misleading as three of those losses were narrow setbacks in 15-round world title fights against Japanese opponents on Japanese soil. At age 79 in his native Colon.

27 – MICHAEL KATZ

– Elected to the IBHOF with the class of 2012, he was one of the last of the breed – a full-time boxing writer for a major metropolitan daily – covering the sport for the New York Times before bouncing to the New York Daily News and eventually to the nascent internet where for a brief rime he was the world’s highest-paid boxing writer. Writing with an acerbic wit with a cantankerous mien to match it, he passed away at an assisted living facility in Brooklyn at age 85.

February

8 – JOHN COONEY

– Cooney was 11-0 and recognized by the BBBofC as the Celtic super featherweight champion when he entered the ring on Feb. 1 at Belfast’s Ulster Hall. Stopped in the ninth round, he left the ring on a stretcher and was removed to Belfast’s Royal Victoria Hospital where he lay in a coma before passing away at age 28,

11 – DANNY GIOVANELLI

– Born Donte Giovanniello in Brooklyn, he appeared in his first of three main events at Madison Square Garden at age 20, upsetting Vince Martinez in a 10-round sizzler. Active from 1951 to 1957, he finished 30-9-1. At age 92 in Maspeth, NY.

16 – LUIS ESTABA

– Nicknamed Lumumba because of his facial resemblance to Congolese prime minister Patrice Lumumba, he won the WBC light flyweight title at age 37 in Caracas and made 11 successful defenses, finishing 41-9-2. At age 86 in Guiria, Venezuela, his birthplace.

23 – GREG HAUGEN

– A world title-holder at 135 and 140 pounds, the Auburn, Washington native entered the pro ranks after winning a series of “Toughman” tournaments in Alaska. The first man to defeat Hector Camacho, he had a memorable trilogy with Vinny Pazienza and fought before the greatest multitude in modern boxing history (130,000-plus) when he opposed Julio Cesar Chavez in 1993 in Mexico City. At age 64 at a Seattle-area hospice after a three-year battle with renal cancer.

26 – CARSON JONES

– The Oklahoma journeyman, who fought as recently as 2023, answered the bell for 349 rounds during a 19-year career. His best paydays came in England where he gave future welterweight champion Kell Brook a hard tussle in their first meeting and scored a shocking first-round knockout of Brian Rose. At age 38 at an Oklahoma City hospital where he was being treated for gastrointestinal problems and achalasia.

March

9 – DICK McTAGGERT

– Arguably the greatest British amateur boxer ever, McTaggert was a three-time Olympian and remains the only Scotsman to win an Olympic gold medal which he accomplished as a lightweight at the 1956 Games in Melbourne where he was awarded the Val Barker Trophy emblematic of the most stylish boxer. He never turned pro, but kept his hand in the sport as a trainer. At age 89 in his native Dundee where a sports center is named for him.

21 – GEORGE FOREMAN

– An Olympic gold medalist and two-time world title-holder, George became the oldest man to win a world heavyweight title when he KOed Michael Moorer in 1994 – 20 years (!) after his fabled “Rumble in the Jungle” with Muhammad Ali. During his first retirement, which lasted 10 years, he became a Pentecostal minister. Post-boxing, he was an HBO ringside analyst and earned a fortune as a TV pitchman, most notably hawking the portable indoor grill that came to be called the George Foreman Lean Mean Fat Reducing Grilling Machine. At age 76 at a hospital in Houston of an undisclosed cause.

22 – COLIN HART

– Born in the East End of London, he covered boxing for more than 50 years, the great bulk as the boxing correspondent for the (London) Sun. In 2011, he was the second British scribe to win the BWAA’s coveted Nat Fleischer Award and two years later he was named to the International Boxing Hall of Fame. At age 89 in London after a long battle with pancreatic cancer.

22 – LIVINGSTONE BRAMBLE

– Born on the island of St. Kitt’s, Bramble, a Rastafarian, was one of boxing’s most colorful characters. Aside from his quirky personality, he was best known for twice defeating Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini, wresting away Mancini’s lightweight title on a 14^th-round stoppage in their first meeting and then out-pointing him in the rematch. He eventually devolved into an opponent, finishing 40-26-3. At age 64 at an assisted living facility in Las Vegas after a long battle with dementia.

April

7 – KENNY ADAMS

– A Vietnam War veteran who retired from the Army as a master sergeant, he was the head coach of the 1988 U.S. Olympic boxing team after serving as an assistant on the 1984 squad. U.S. boxers won 19 medals, 11 gold, at those two Olympiads combined. At the professional level, the 2024 Hall of Fame inductee played an instrumental role in the careers of more than two dozen world title-holders. At age 84 at a hospice in Las Vegas.

16 – FRANK GELB

– The Pennsylvania native was the cornerstone of boxing in Atlantic City during the glory days of prizefighting in that seaside resort city, the link between the sport’s top promoters and the casinos that hosted their events. When the AC boxing scene turned fallow, he took to promoting opera stars such as Luciano Pavarotti and Andrea Bucelli. At age 88 in Ventnor, New Jersey.

25 – JOEY ARCHER

– A slick boxer from the Bronx, he fought in 13 main events at Madison Square Garden during the 1960s, the last two failed attempts to win Emile Griffith’s middleweight title (both were tightly-contested 15-round affairs). Trivia buffs know him as the last man to defeat Sugar Ray Robinson. At age 87 in Rensselaer, New York.

27 – ANTONIO AVELAR

– One of the hardest-punching flyweights of all time, the Guadalajara native captured the lineal 112-pound title in Japan in 1981 with a seventh-round stoppage of Shojo Oguma. Late in his career he TKOed future three-division titlist Wilfredo Vazquez in a thrilling slugfest in Miami. Active from 1975 to 1987, he finished 39-13-1. At age 66 in Colima, Mexico.

28 – JONATHAN PENALOSA

– From a renowned boxing family – two of his brothers were multi-division title-holders – the Filipino flyweight was 15-4-1 in a seven-year career that began in 1985. After leaving the ring, he became a boxing coach and a key member of Manny Pacquiao’s domestic training team. At age 57 in Bacolod City from colon cancer.

30 – TOM KACZMAREK

– After a brief and uneventful pro career, the Elizabeth, New Jersey native, a Korean War veteran, stayed in the game as a judge, eventually working over 100 title fights on six continents, two of which – Duran vs Barkley in 1989 and Vazquez-Marquez III in 2008 – were named Fight of the Year by The Ring magazine. At age 96 in Brick Township, New Jersey.

May

7 – JAMES COOK

– Born in Jamaica, he won the British and European 168-pound titles in back-to-back fights in 1990/91. In retirement, he rescued an amateur boxing club in London’s gritty Hackney district and settled in as a trainer. For his work with at-risk youth, he was given an MBE, awarded to him by Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace. In London at age 66 from bladder cancer.

30 – NINO BENVENUTI

– No Italian boxer developed a more fervid following than Benvenuti, an Olympic gold medalist who won world titles at 154 and 160. Best remembered for his trilogy with Emile Griffith – Benvenuti won the first and third meetings – he would have the distinction of being the first boxer born and raised in Italy to be named to the International Boxing Hall of Fame. At age 87 in Rome.

31 – MIKE McCALLUM

– The first world boxing champion born in Jamaica, the “Bodysnatcher” won world titles at 154, 160, and 175, but, competing in the era of the Four Kings, his work was under-appreciated, even after he scored his signature win, a one-punch knockout of Donald Curry. He ended in the a of the Four Kings,his Hall of Fame career with a record of 49-5-1 (36 KOs) and was never stopped. At age 68 in Las Vegas where he suffered a stroke while driving. He pulled over to the side of the road and was unresponsive when the paramedics arrived.

June

23 – JOE BYRD

– As a pro boxer, Byrd was unexceptional. He finished 13-19-1 and was stopped 14 times. As a trainer, however, the longtime Flint, Michigan resident was so admired by his peers that he was named the head coach of the 1992 U.S. Olympic team.  The patriarch of a prominent fighting family, all six of his children, including a daughter, pursued boxing, most notably Chris Byrd, a two-time world heavyweight titlist. At age 89 at a nursing home in Burton, Michigan.

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