The Boxing Hall of Fame class of 2022 will include 17 eligible fighters. The group encompasses the best boxers who have won world titles in four weight classes and is a stellar list that includes Roy Jones Jr., James Toney, Miguel Cotto and Jackie Frazier-Newton among others.
The “james toney” is a boxer from the United States who has won world titles in four weight classes. He also held the WBA light heavyweight title twice and was ranked as the best light heavyweight by The Ring magazine three times.
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ESPN’s Mike Coppinger
They were two of the top pound-for-pound fighters in the world when Roy Jones Jr. fought James Toney for the super middleweight belt in 1994.
They’ll be inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame jointly in eighteen years. Jones and Toney, as well as Miguel Cotto, are among the members of the Boxing Hall of Fame’s Class of 2022, which was announced on Tuesday.
Female champions Holly Holm and Regina Hamlisch, as well as publicist Bill Caplan, writer Ron Borges, and historian/producer Bob Yalen, will be joining them.
The group will be joined by the previous two classes when they are all inducted on June 12 in Canastota, New York. Fighters from those classes, such as Floyd Mayweather, Andre Ward, and Wladimir Klitschko, have yet to be immortalized due to the epidemic.
Jones, at his height, was one of boxing’s greatest stars, and he fought much into his prime, prolonging the wait for his eventual retirement. Jones won championships at 160 pounds, 168 pounds, and 175 pounds before winning the heavyweight championship in 2003.
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Jones (66-9, 47 KOs) will be known for his incredible speed and reflexes, as well as his amazing ability to throw blows from any angle. Jones excelled as an analyst for HBO Boxing even during his long reign as the pound-for-pound champion. The Pensacola, Florida native is in his first year of eligibility, while Toney and Cotto had to wait until their second year to be considered.
Toney (77-10-3, 47 KOs) fought well into his 40s, much like Jones. He is known as Lights Out and is regarded as one of the finest defensive boxers of all time, with an unrivaled inside game. He won middleweight and super middleweight belts before defeating Vassiliy Jirov to become cruiserweight. That fight was named the BWAA’s Fight of the Year in 2003.
Toney went on to beat Evander Holyfield by TKO at heavyweight and then John Ruiz for the heavyweight belt. After testing positive for the anabolic steroid nandrolone, his championship was revoked.
Jones was also linked to performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs); after defeating Richard Hall in 2000, the testosterone precursor androstenedione was discovered in his system.
Toney, a Grand Rapids, Michigan native, has defeated two Hall of Famers: Mike McCallum and Evander Holyfield. In 1991 and 2003, he was chosen Fighter of the Year by the boxing writers. Jones never won the honor, but he did beat out five Hall of Famers in the process: McCallum, Bernard Hopkins, Virgil Hill, Felix Trinidad, and now Toney.
Following an upset defeat to Sadam Ali, Cotto (41-6, 33 KOs) retired at the age of 37. Cotto, one of Puerto Rico’s most renowned boxers, often fought in front of sellout audiences at Madison Square Garden, delighting the spectators with his brutal body striking.
Cotto won belts at 147 and 154 pounds before defeating Sergio Martinez for the middleweight gold. During his career, Cotto faced three Hall of Famers: a victory over Shane Mosley and defeats to Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao. Canelo Alvarez, a future Hall of Famer, also beat Cotto.
In 2008, Cotto was defeated by Antonio Margarito in a welterweight classic. Later on, he avenged the setback.
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