By Ken Hissner: Tim “Desert Storm” Bradley, Jr. and Rafael Marquez, two-division world champions whose exciting styles earned both “Fight of the Year” honors, and Super Middleweight champion Carl “The Cobra” Froch have been inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
The Members of the International Boxing Hall of Fame and Museum are Bradley (USA), Marquez (MEX), and Froch (UK) in Men’s Modern Category, champions Alicia “Slick” Ashley (Jamaica) and Laura Serrano (Mexico) in the women’s Modern category, matchmaker Brad Goodman (USA), trainer Joe Goossen (USA), and promotional executive Brad Jacobs (USA) in the Non-Participant category, and television executive Seth Abraham (USA) and broadcaster Tim Ryan (Canada) in the Observer category.
Light Heavyweight standout Tiger Jack Fox (USA), Flyweight champion Pone Kingpetch (Thailand) in the Old Timer category, and JoAnn Hagen (USA) in the Women’s Trailblazer category will enter Hall posthumously.
The 2023 Hall of Fame Induction Weekend is scheduled for June 8-11th in “Boxing’s Hometown.”
Tim “Desert Storm” Bradley, Jr., held the WBC and WBO Light Welterweight and WBO Welterweight titles. His record was 33-2-1, with 13 stoppages from August 2004 to April 2016. He is from Palm Springs, CA.
Bradley won the WBC Super Lightweight title in May of 2008, winning a split decision over Junior “The Hitter” Witter, 36-1-2, at the Nottingham Arena, in Nottingham, UK, improving his record to 22-0. Scoring a sixth round knockdown won him the fight.
Defenses followed with decisions over Edner “Cherry Bomb” Cherry, 24-5-2, unifying over WBO champion Kendall Holt, 25-2, Nate “The Galaxy Warrior” Campbell, 33-5-1, after winning the first three rounds, an accidental cut over the left eye of Campbell halted the fight at the end of the third round ruled a win was changed three weeks later with a ruling to a no-contest.
In December of 2009, Bradley would defend his WBO title defeating Lamont “Havoc” Peterson, 27-0, after a non-title win over Luis “El Potro” Abregu, 29-0, of Argentina.
He then followed with title defenses over Devon “Alexander The Great” Alexander, 21-0, Cuba’s Joel “El Cepillo” Casamayor, 38-5-1, by stoppage, a what this writer calls a disputed split decision over multi-division world champion Manny “Pac Man” Pacquiao, 54-3-2, Ruslan “The Russian Rocky” Provodnikov, 22-1, Juan “Ditamita” Manuel Marquez, 55-6-1, and a Pacquiao, 55-5-2, rematch, in April of 2014 losing his title.
Next, a draw split decision with Diego “El Joya” Gabriel Chaves, 23-2, of Argentina, defeating Jesse “The Pride of Las Vegas” Vargas, 26-0, for the WBO Interim Welterweight title, stopping Brandon “Bam Bam” Rios, 33-2-1, for the WBO title and finishing his career with a third match losing to Pacquiao, 57-6-2, for the WBO International title in April of 2016 in his final match.
Rafael Marquez held the IBF Bantamweight and WBC Super Bantamweight titles. He is from Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico.
Marquez fought from September 1995 to September 2013, compiling a 41-9 with 37 stoppages record.
After Marquez was stopped in his pro debut, he won twenty-five of his next twenty-eight fights. In his first win over a major opponent, he defeated former IBF Flyweight and Super Flyweight champion Mark “Too Sharp” Johnson, 40-1, by split decision in October of 2001, improving his record to 26-3.
In their rematch, Marquez stopped Johnson for the vacant IBF USBA Bantamweight title and an eliminator for the IBF Bantamweight title.
Two fights later, in February of 2003, Marquez stopped Tim “Cincinnati Kid” Austin, 25-0-1, for the IBF Bantamweight title.
Marquez would follow with seven successful title defenses starting with a decision over Mauricio “El Pintoso Indio Boy” Pastrana, 30-3-1, “Sweet” Pete Frissina, 27-3-1, Heriberto “Cuate” Ruiz, 31-2-2, in a rematch stopping Pastrana, 31-4-1, Ricardo “Chapo” Vargas, 38-10-3, adding the IBO title stopping Silence “African Spice” Mabuza, 18-0, and again in a rematch.
In March of 2007 Marquez stopped WBC Super Bantamweight champion Israel “Magnifico” Vazquez, 41-3. In a rematch, he lost, being stopped by Vazquez, and in their third meeting, lost by a split decision. Two fights later, in their fourth meeting, Marquez won the WBC Silver title, stopping Vazquez 44-4.
In his next fight, Marquez was stopped by WBO Featherweight champion Juan “Juanma” Manuel Lopez, 29-0, of Puerto Rico. Two fights later, in October of 2011, he lost by a decision to WBC Super Bantamweight champion Toshiaki Nishioka, 38-4-3, of Japan.
After winning his next fight, Marquez lost his next two fights by stoppage, first to former Super Flyweight champion Cristian “El Diamante” Mijares, 46-6-2, and in his final bout to Efrain Esquivias, 16-2-1, in September of 2013.
Marquez is the brother of four-division world champion Juan Manuel Marquez.
Carl “The Cobra” Froch held the WBA, WBC, and IBF Super Middleweight titles. He fought from March 2002 to May 2014, compiling a 33-2 with 24 stoppages record. He is from Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, UK.
Froch was 23-0, having won the British and Commonwealth titles when he defeated Haitian Jean Pascal, 21-0, of Canada for the WBC Super Middleweight title, in December of 2008, at the Nottingham Arena. He would go to the USA in his first defense behind on two of the scorecards stopping former Middleweight champion Jermain “Bad Intentions” Taylor, 28-2-1, in the twelfth and final round.
Froch would next defend his title in Nottingham, winning a split decision over Olympic Bronze Medalist Andre “The Resurrected” Dirrell, 18-0. Next, six months later, in Denmark, he lost his title to the former champion Denmark’s Mikkel “Viking Warrior” Kessler, 42-2, by decision.
In Froch’s next fight, he defeated the former Middleweight champion “King” Arthur Abraham, 31-1, for the vacant WBC Super Middleweight title in Helsinki, Finland, in November 2010. He next defeated by majority decision the former Light Heavyweight champion Glen “Road Warrior” Johnson, 51-14-12, in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
In December, he would lose to WBA Super Middleweight champion and former Olympic Gold Medalist Andre “S.O.G.” Ward, 24-0, by decision again back in Atlantic City. Five months later, he stopped IBF Super Middleweight champion Romanian Lucian “Le Tombeur” Bute, 30-0, of Canada, at the Nottingham Arena, in May of 2012.
Froch defended that title, stopping Philadelphia’s Yusaf “Mack Attack” Mack, 31-4-2, in Nottingham Arena. Then in a rematch with now WBA champ Kessler, 46-2, he won at the O2 Arena.
IWBF Featherweight, WIBF Super Bantamweight, NABF Super Bantamweight, and WBC Super Bantamweight champion Alicia “Slick” Ashley was born in Jamaica and residing in Brooklyn, New York, fought from January 1999 to March 2018.
Ashley, a southpaw, had a final record of 24-12-1 with 4 stoppages. She fought in Canada, the Virgin Islands, Argentina, Austria, Guyana, North Korea, and China.
Ashley made her debut at the Tropicana Hotel & Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey, which International Boxing Hall of Fame inductee matchmaker Don Elbaum operated out of for years.
At the Viking Hall in Philadelphia, promoter Diane Fischer of Dee Lee Promotions was promoted in June of 2000. Ashley, in the Main Event, defeated former WIBF Super Bantamweight champion Leona “Downtown” Brown, 8-3, improving to 4-3. In her next fight, she defeated Kelsey “Road Warrior” Jeffries, 8-1, whose only loss was to this year’s other inductee Laura Serrano. Jeffries ended with a record of 41-11-2.
Two fights later, Ashley again defeated Jeffries for the vacant IWBF Featherweight title. In between, she drew with two-division world champion Layla “Amazing” McCarter, 9-5-2, who ended with a 45-13-5 record.
In March of 200f, Ashley defeated Elena “Baby Doll” Reid, 16-1-5, who, six months prior to this, drew with WIBF Flyweight champion Regina Halmich, 45-1, in Germany. Reid ended with a 19-6-6 record. In Ashley’s next fight, she defeated Alesia “The Tigress” Graf, 10-0. Graf would eventually become the WIBF Super Flyweight champion ending at 29-8.
In July 2011, Ashley won the WBC Super Bantamweight title defeating Christina Ruiz 6-3-1. In her second defense, she defeated Panama’s Chanttall “La Fera” Martinez, 18-5. She re-won the WBC title defeating Ireland’s Christina “Lightning” McMahon, 7-0, in Brooklyn, NY. In her final bout, she lost to Denmark’s Dina Thorslund, 10-0, for the WBC Interim Super Bantamweight title in Denmark. Thorslund ended with an 18-0 career record.
WIBF Lightweight and IWBF Continental champion Laura “La Poeta del Ring” Serrano fought from May of 1994. In her debut, she drew with Christy “Coal Miner’s Daughter” Martin, 21-1-1. She ended in September 2012. She was born in Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico, and lived in Las Vegas, Nevada. Her final record was 17-5-3 with six stoppages.
In Serrano’s seventh fight, she defeated Tracy “The Lady” Byrd, 11-1, sister of world heavyweight champion Chris Byrd. In August of 2000, Serrano drew with WIBA Super Featherweight champion Melissa “Honey Girl” Del Valle, 19-0. In her next fight, she lost to Canada’s Jeannine Garside, 5-0-1, for the vacant WIBA Featherweight title.
Two fights later, Serrano again fought and lost to world champion WIBF Featherweight Ina Menzer, 18-0, from KAZ in Germany. Menzer ended with a 31-1 record.
Flyweight champion Pone Kingpetch, 28-7 with 9 stoppages. He was from Hua Hin, Thailand. He fought from May of 1994 to April of 1966.
Kingpetch, 20-3, defeated this writer’s favorite South American boxer, Olympic Gold Medalist, and Flyweight champion Argentina’s Pascual Perez, 54-1-1, in April of 1960 and again in the rematch, this time by stoppage.
Some of Kingpetch’s wins were over Mitsunori Seki, 21-2-1, of Japan, and China-born Kyo Noguchi, 36-6-5, of Japan. He would lose to Japan’s Fighting Harada, 26-1 but defeat him in their rematch. He would do the same, losing to Japan’s Hiroyuki Ebihara, 36-1-1, defeating him in the rematch for the WBA and WBC Flyweight titles. He lost to Italy’s Salvatore “Tori” Burruni, 76-3-1, in Rome, who ended his career with a 99-9-1 record.
