NEWS: CARL FROCH, TIMOTHY BRADLEY, RAFAEL MARQUEZ AMONGST 2023 HOF INDUCTEES
By: Jay Calderon
Recently, the International Boxing Hall of Fame announced it's 2023 induction class, and it has a few notable names from recent years.
Included in the upcoming class will be former super middleweight titlist Carl Froch, former jr. welterweight and welterweight titlist Timothy Bradley, and former bantamweight and jr. featherweight titlist Rafael Marquez.
CARL FROCH
In many respects, Carl Froch was a criminally underrated fighter from a British perspective. When fighters such as Naseem Hamed, Joe Calzaghe, and Amir Khan were being celebrated by the English, Froch had to fight for everything he received in his career, especially early on.
Froch began his career 23-0 before a title-winning performance over Jean Pascal in 2008. Including the Pascal encounter, Froch would fight 12 more times, facing 9 different world titlists a total of 11 different times to finish off his career.
HIs only losses came during that stretch, but few can fault him for those defeats. One defeat was to fellow Hall of Famer Andre Ward, while the other was to titlist Mikkel Kessler, which Froch later avenged.
Froch will perhaps best be known for the two biggest moments later in his career, starting with his upset victory over Lucian Bute, immediately after the Ward loss. Had Froch failed to capture the then-unbeaten Bute's title, many have suggested the Nottingham native would have retired. He dominated and stopped the Canadian to begin his third reign as a champion.
The second big moment was his intense feud with fellow Brit George Groves. The pair shared the ring with one another twice, in 2013 and 2014 respectively, with Froch winning both via stoppage. However, their first battle saw Groves get off to a hot start, dropping the usually iron chinned Froch in the opening round. The bout was eventually waved off -- some would argue, prematurely -- in the ninth when a hurt Groves failed to immediately answer hard shots delivered by Froch.
Their second encounter was in front of 80,000 fans at Wembley (a then-record of which Froch will assuredly remind you), and saw Froch box a much more composed style, setting up his work and eventually dropping and stopping Groves in the eighth frame, winning Ring Magazine's Knockout of the Year in the process. This will allowed Froch the rare opportunity to retire on his own terms, as a champion, with his faculties intact.
TIMOTHY BRADLEY
American Timothy Bradley, like Froch, was perhaps something of a long shot for the Hall. However, while never the fastest, or the hardest-hitting, he was a warrior willing to face any and all comers.
Proving just that, Bradley first won world gold by travelling to England and facing Brit Junior Witter, earning a split decision victory and a portion of the title at 140 pounds. Bradley then twice unified the 140 pound titles, once with a decision win over Kendall Holt and the second time against Devon Alexander, in 2009 and 2011, respectively.
Bradley eventually moved up to welterweight, where most remember his career and where he earned his biggest wins during his career. In his first fight at 147 pounds, to the surprise of many, Timothy defeated living legend and fellow Hall of Famer Manny Pacquiao for another piece of gold in a new division.
While the result was heavily controversial, it was followed by a career-defining win over Ruslan Provodnikov in the 2013 Fight of the Year winner. If you haven't watched this somewhat hidden gem of a fight, I would highly encourage you to do so.
While the Provodnikov win was thrilling, his career-best win was over Pacquiao conqueror Juan Manuel Marquez, whom Bradley soundly defeated later in the same year as his previous Russian foe.
In the end, Bradley finished his series with Pacquiao with a record of 1-2, losing the follow-up return bout and rubbermatch, but he managed to recapture gold at 147 pounds with a win over Brandon Rios, the last win of his prizefighting -- and now Hall of Fame -- career.
RAFAEL MARQUEZ
In some respects, Rafael Marquez will mostly be remembered for his epic series of encounters with fellow Mexican Israel Vazquez. A series of fights that spanned from 2007 to 2010. In some ways, that speaks volumes of just how highly their back and forths are regarded. However, he was more than just one half of that quartet of contests.
Prior to ever moving up in weight and facing Vazquez, Marquez was an established world titlist at 118 pounds, having captured and defended gold eight times. Marquez won the strap after defeating the highly-talented Tim Austin before taking on the likes of multi-division titlists Mauricio Pastrana and Silence Mabuza.
Leading into the Vazquez encounter, Marquez was on a 15 fight win streak, which also included a series of wins over fellow Hall of Famer Mark "Too Sharp" Johnson, first by split decision and then by stoppage.
As for the series with Vazquez itself, it's everything you want in boxing. It was beautiful, yet violent. It had skill, but savagery would find it's way into the squared circle time and again. While one could argue it went one fight too many, the fourth encounter was the biggest payday for either man in their careers. And it was pay they had more than earned.
In the event there are those reading this that haven't treated themselves to these epic showdowns, I will withhold the results. This is in the hopes that you find out the winners the old fashioned way, by going back and treating yourself to one of boxing's best volumes of fights. You won't regret doing so.
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For the full list of inductees, that also includes legendary trainer Dan Goossen, amongst others, you can click here. Induction weekend will be held in Canastota, New York, on June 8-11.
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