Unique ‘Trilogy’ Will Unfold At Huge Hall Of Fame Celebration This Weekend

The second Sunday in June typically attracts plenty of boxing dignitaries to Canastota, New York.

There’s a banquet, an autograph card show, a parade, ringside lectures on the museum’s grounds and a ceremony that often allows fans of this sport to interact with some of its most legendary figures during its annual International Boxing Hall of Fame weekend. The event was canceled each of the past two years, however, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Now that thousands of fans, fighters, managers, promoters, public relations specialists, reporters, trainers and others involved in the sport in various capacities can convene again in this tiny town in upstate New York, the IBHOF is ready to host festivities unlike anything it has put together since its inaugural class was inducted in 1990.

Its Classes of 2020, 2021 and 2022 will be enshrined Sunday as part of a massive ceremony that’ll feature many of the 21st century’s most prominent boxers. Legends Miguel Cotto, Bernard Hopkins, Roy Jones Jr., Wladimir Klitschko, Juan Manuel Marquez, Floyd Mayweather, Shane Mosley, James Toney and Andre Ward will all be immortalized on the same afternoon as part of what’s being billed as “Trilogy,” a once-in-a-lifetime event in the hometown of Carmen Basilio.

The esteemed aforementioned group includes four boxers – Jones, Mosley, Mayweather and Ward – who were at one time or another commonly considered the sport’s pound-for-pound king. Thirty-six people altogether will be inducted, 11 posthumously.

Four of the names most synonymous with women’s boxing will be honored as well – Laila Ali, Christy Martin, Lucia Rijker and Ann Wolfe. Martin, Rijker and women’s pioneer Barbara Buttrick, each a member of the Class of 2020, were the first female boxers selected for induction into the IBHOF.

The IBHOF weekend also will feature a live boxing card that’ll take place Friday night at nearby Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona, New York.

Heavyweights Bakhodir Jalolov (10-0, 10 KOs), a 2021 Olympic gold medalist from Uzbekistan, and the Republic of Congo’s Jack Mulowayi (11-2-1, 7 KOs) are scheduled to square off in the eight-round main event of a “ShoBox: The New Generation” telecast. Showtime’s coverage of this tripleheader is scheduled to begin at 9 p.m. ET.

The three classes set for enshrinement are listed below. Asterisks indicate those who will be inducted posthumously.

Visit www.ibhof.com for more information on induction weekend.

CLASS OF 2020

Barbara Buttrick (first women’s world champion)

Lou DiBella (promoter, television executive)

Kathy Duva (promoter)

Frank Erne (featherweight, lightweight champion)*

Bernard Fernandez (writer)

Dan Goossen (promoter)*

Thomas Hauser (writer)

Bernard Hopkins (middleweight, light heavyweight champion)

Juan Manuel Marquez (featherweight, junior lightweight, lightweight, junior welterweight champion)

Christy Martin (women’s junior middleweight champion)

Shane Mosley (lightweight, welterweight, junior middleweight champion)

Lucia Rijker (women’s junior welterweight champion)

Paddy Ryan (heavyweight champion)*

CLASS OF 2021

Laila Ali (women’s super middleweight, light heavyweight champion)

Freddie Brown (cut man)*

Dr. Margaret Goodman (ringside physician; Voluntary Anti-Doping Association)

George Kimball (writer)*

Wladimir Klitschko (heavyweight champion)

Jay Larkin (television executive)*

Floyd Mayweather (junior lightweight, lightweight, junior welterweight, welterweight, junior middleweight champion)

Jackie McCoy (manager, trainer)*

Davey Moore (featherweight champion)*

Jackie Tonawanda (women’s pioneer)*

Marian Trimiar (women’s lightweight champion)

Andre Ward (super middleweight, light heavyweight champion)

Ann Wolfe (women’s junior middleweight, super middleweight, light heavyweight champion)

CLASS OF 2022

Ron Borges (writer)

Bill Caplan (publicist)

Miguel Cotto (junior welterweight, welterweight, junior middleweight, middleweight champion)

Regina Halmich (women’s flyweight champion)

Holly Holm (women’s junior welterweight, welterweight, junior middleweight champion)

Chuck Hull (ring announcer)*

Roy Jones Jr. (middleweight, super middleweight, light heavyweight, heavyweight champion)

Tod Morgan (junior lightweight champion)*

James Toney (super middleweight, cruiserweight champion)

Bob Yalen (historian/television producer)

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.