Ringside Report International Boxing Hall of Fame Weekend Wrap Up

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By Anthony “Zute” George

The International Boxing Hall of Fame held its big induction weekend. The IBHOF is considered the granddaddy of all Boxing Hall of Fame’s, and there are a lot of them. For four days boxing’s biggest stars, fans, pundits, collectors, dealers and perhaps a troll or two, rub elbows, share stories and battle for that all-important inscription on a cherished piece.

While the festivities begin on Thursday, I did not arrive until Friday. When I arrived, I felt like I was walking on air. The weather was gorgeous, and I knew I would soon be in the presence of boxing royalty. If I felt this way, I could only imagine how the 2019 Hall of Fames class, Tony DeMarco, Donald Curry, Buddy McGirt, Julian Jackson, Teddy Atlas, Don Elbaum, Lee Samuels and Guy Jutras all felt. As the weekend went on, I was able to get an idea of their bliss. As one of the best parts of this year’s hall of fame was just how approachable and friendly this Hall of Fame Class and the special guests, were.

In years past, not all the inductees, as well as special guests, were friendly with the fans. And it seemed like the bigger the boxer was, the smaller their understanding of how important the fans are, seemed to be. Based on my observations, as well as the anecdotes form other fans, Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield and Miguel Cotto were not friendly with the fans for most of their stay; Holyfield was inducted in 2017, Tyson and Cotto were special guests in 2018. The fact that the two to three minutes that Evander Holyfield spent signing at the banquet in 2017 was indeed more time than Tyson and Cotto spent combined, is not a good look.

However, this year, virtually every guest was more than happy to spend time with the fans; signing autographs, taking pictures and having conversations. Sugar Shane Mosley is the only guest that I cannot praise. I cannot say he was terrible, but he failed to show up to most of the events and left the banquet hallway through. I did observe him being friendly to fans during the fight, so it was not all bad.

Fighters like Jorge Arce, Michael Moorer, Iran Barkley, Earnie Shavers, Paulie Ayala, Antonio Tarver, Vinny Paz, Micky Ward, Dicky Ecklund, Marvin Johnson, David Benavidez and Poison Junior Jones went above and beyond in their efforts to make the fans happy. Jorge Arce acted like a fan himself. Returning Hall of Famers, Marvelous Marvin Hagler, Michael Spinks, Orlando Canizales, Chiquita Gonzalez, Carlos Ortiz and Erik Morales did the same.

Perhaps the best part of the weekend was the fact that the entire IBHOF class was alive and very active signing all weekend. Tony DeMarco, Donald Curry, Buddy McGirt, Julian Jackson, Teddy Atlas, Don Elbaum, Lee Samuels and Guy Jutras all made sure they spent time with the fans, and they all seemed genuine and happy to do it.

The only big disappointment was the number of no shows this year at the IBHOF. Leon Spinks and John Stracey have been mainstays and great guests virtually every year. Unfortunately, both men had medical procedures which prevented them form flying. Understandable, as they both wanted to be there but were prevented from doing so. I am not sure why Pernell Whitaker, Michael Carbajal, Marco Antonio Barrera, Claressa Shields and Ricky Hatton bailed out, however. I hope they have a good reason, and I hope they are all well. But the disappointment was still strong in Canastota. This is the second year in a row Carbajal was an announced guest and did his best Claude Rains imitation.

As part of the IBHOF weekend there was also a fight card at the Turning Stone Casino, which Ringside Report covered. By now everyone knows Zab Judah was stopped by Cletus Seldin. Today, there were a lot of posts stating Zab, who took a lot of hard blows from a guy with very serious hands, was in the hospital and not doing well. The joy of the weekend went in the review mirror when I saw this, my heart rate went up immensely and I was not even moving. Boxing tragedies have made an ugly stamp on the sport throughout its history and is something nobody wants to see. I realize I am not exactly revealing top secret news on that one.

As the day went on the word coma started to creep in on the posts regarding Zab’s condition. The operative word being posts, as I had yet to see any official, reputable, news coverage on Zab. Other than the fact that he lost, nothing was being reported. I was close to the action on Friday night and saw the kinds of shots Zab took, they were heavy, and they were damaging. And they were landing on a 41-year-old cranium that has already taken its fair share of damage. With that said, I did not see Zab take any unnecessary punishment, as referee Charlie Fitch was spot on with his main job of protecting his fighters. When Fitch did stop the fight, Zab was on his feet and did not seem to be in dire condition. In fact, many of his fans, as well as family members, were complaining that the fight was stopped too soon. Goes to show that you just never can tell sometimes.

At the time of this writing I cannot offer any confident, concrete news on Zab’s condition other than it appears he is not in a coma and making progress after collapsing at some point after the fight. We can only hope that is true news and is only going to be followed by great news.

Such a scare reminds us just how of sacred and special fighters are. Along with how caring and human most boxers are, the fact that a boxer literally risks their lives for our entertainment, is the reason why fans love them so much. It is the reason I plan to come to every IBHOF weekend that I possibly can. It is the reason why no fighter should ever be called a bum.

As long as Zab Judah comes out of this with his health, the 2019 International Boxing Hall of Fame weekend will go down as one of my fondest memories of the leisure part of my life. A special thanks to all the guests who made the weekend so special.

Check out “Zutes Boxing Talk”, which airs every Wednesday live from 7PM to 9PM ET. The show is dedicated to discussing the sweet science straight up with no twists. “Zute” has interviewed boxing legends such as Carlos Palomino, Mike McCallum, Pernell Whitaker, Jeff Fenech, Buddy McGirt, Mark “Too Sharp” Johnson, Marvin Camel and Eddie Mustafa Muhammad. As well as today’s stars like Danny Garcia, Sergey Kovalev, Regis Prograis, Teofimo Lopez and Gary Russell, JR.

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