Timothy Bradley, Carl Froch lead class of 2023 into boxing's Hall of Fame
VERONA, N.Y. (AP) — Timothy Bradley Jr. remembers being in England on the night before his first title fight, when his wife started speaking to him in a tone more concerning than usual.
“I knew something was up and she said: ‘We only have 11 dollars in our bank account. I spent our last 300 to get here. You must win. You’ve got to win,'” Bradley recalled.
He did, a moment that gave Bradley the motivation that guided him the rest of his career and ultimately all the way to the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
“That day I vowed that our family would never be broke again,” Bradley said.
The former two-division champion was part of the 10-member class enshrined Sunday in at ceremony at the Turning Stone Resort Casino. Carl Froch, a four-time super middleweight titlist, had a message similar to Bradley's in saying that talent alone wasn't what got him into the museum in Canastota, New York.
“Like I said, I didn’t win them all, but what I never did was quit,” Froch said. “Champions, world champions, don’t quit. And quitters don’t get inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.”
Mexico's Rafael Marquez, like Bradley a two-division champion, also was enshrined, joining brother Juan Manuel Marquez. Two bouts in Marquez's four-bout series with Israel Vazquez were voted Fight of the Year.
Laura Serrano, Mexico’s first female boxing champion and the first women’s boxing Hall of Famer, and Alicia Ashley, a Jamaican who became the oldest woman to win a title at 48 and boxed until she was 50, were inducted from the women’s modern category.
Brad Goodman, Top Rank’s matchmaker for nearly four decades, ended his speech with a nod to what he said was the best match he ever made with a marriage proposal to girlfriend Vivian. Brad Jacobs, the promotional company’s chief operating officer since 2010, was selected in the non-participant category along with longtime trainer and broadcaster Joe Goossen.
Goossen’s brother, Dan, was a promoter inducted in 2020.
Tim Ryan, the longtime CBS lead boxing announcer who called Sugar Ray Leonard bouts against Marvin Hagler and Thomas Hearns among his more than 300 championship fights, was chosen in the observer category. He was joined by Seth Abraham, the executive who oversaw HBO’s growth into a boxing broadcasting power.
Abraham said he was the 13th member of the HBO team to reach the Hall of Fame.
“Boxing fills history, and today this place is the boxing capital of the world,” Abraham said.
Tiger Jack Fox, Pone Kingpetch and women’s trailblazer JoAnn Hagen were inducted posthumously.
Bradley and Froch both finished their careers with 33 wins and two losses, and it was in Froch's hometown of Nottingham, England, where Monica Bradley told her husband of his need to beat Junior Witter on May 10, 2008.
Bradley recalled another time when the couple found an eviction notice on their home, or when he had to borrow money from his brother-in-law after his car and refrigerator needed repairs at the same time.
Money is no problem now for a fighter who went on to beat Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez, and after his career became a commentator for ESPN.
“I didn’t get here because I was better than everyone I fought,” Bradley said. “I got here because I wanted it more than everyone.”
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