Ricky Hatton laughed during his Boxing Hall of Fame speech as he marveled at where boxing has taken him and the thousands of fans who always follow him around.
“I had some fights, you know,” Hatton said Sunday, “I remember the Kostya Tszy fight, the Floyd Mayweather fight, the Manny Pacquiao fight and then the toughest fight, my divorce.”
Michael Moore took a more serious tone, calling for a safer environment for boxers during their playing days and after retirement.
Hatton and Moore were the two-division champions highlighted in the announcement of the 2024 International Boxing Hall of Fame class at a ceremony at Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona, New York.
Moorer won the light heavyweight title in his 12th professional fight and then rose to become the first southpaw to become heavyweight champion. With current heavyweight fighters sometimes weighing over 250 pounds and former champion Tyson Fury fighting at over 270 pounds, Moorer called for the creation of a super heavyweight division.
Moorer, who had a record of 52 wins, four losses and one draw with 40 knockouts, said he had undergone 28 surgeries and had lost his sense of smell and taste, and said boxing's governing bodies, managers and promoters needed to make the welfare of fighters their number one priority.
“The toll on a fighter's body continues long after retirement,” Moorer said. “I'm just one of many retired fighters who have had to deal with a long list of injuries without any real insurance coverage.”
Other notable fighters from that class housed in the hall's museum in Canastota, New York, include Ivan Calderon and Diego Corrales, who died in 2007, two years after his 10-round comeback victory over Jose Luis Castillo in boxing's “Fight of the Year.”
Calderon, a two-division champion from Puerto Rico who still works with boxers from his country, noted that representatives of three Latin American boxing organizations were also in attendance.
“They're here like a family, and I want them to continue to work like a family for all of our boxers,” Calderon said. “That's what we need. We need families. Together we can do a lot.”
Jane Couch of Great Britain and Ana Maria Torres of Mexico, who fought to make boxing available to women in their home countries, were named women's champions in the Women's Modern division. Other fighters in the class were Luis Ángel Firpo in the Old Timers division and Teresa Kibby in the Women's Trailblazer division.
The 13 members include trainer Kenny Adams, Jackie Cullen, the first female manager to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, longtime publicist Fred Sternberg, announcer Nick Charles and journalist Wallace Matthews, who said he prefers boxing to other sports he covers because of the hardships boxers endure.
“Boxers have a code: You fight until you can't fight anymore. There's no other sport like that,” Matthews said. “There are no timeouts. There are no tap-outs. There are no relief pitchers. You don't skate off the ice to be replaced. That's it. Once you get in there, you're on board and you're with the ride until the end.”
It's been quite a journey for Hatton, a Manchester, England, native who rose to the top of the junior welterweight division in 2005 with a win over Tsiu, then lost to Mayweather and Pacquiao in high-profile welterweight bouts in Las Vegas. He recalled the thousands of fans who flew in from Europe for those weeks — so many that the MGM Grand ran out of beer at one point — just as they supported him back home.
Hatton (45-3, 32 KOs) can now watch the induction into the Hall of Fame, and he said he was overwhelmed to see his plaque placed next to those of his boxing hero, Roberto Duran.
“I've always said that my greatest achievement is the support of my fans,” Hatton said, “so it was great to be able to spend the weekend with them.”
___
AP Sports: https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
