By: Sean Crose
The three giants of the boxing sport: Roy Jones, Miguel Cotto and James Toney, are heading to the International Boxing Hall of Fame in New York. Joining them in the 2022 tier will be UFC star-turned female boxing champion Holly Holm, and legendary female boxer Regina Halmich among others.
After an illustrious career, Jones entered the world of professional boxing in 1989. In the process of competing professionally for nearly 30 years, Jones has won world titles in the middleweight divisions, super medium, light and heavyweight. The Florida native was so dominant that he was once considered the heaviest heavyweight boxer ever – an assertion that some continue to support, and not without reason. Jones last played professionally in 2018.
Like Jones, Toney’s career spanned nearly 30 years. During that time, Toney won world titles in the middleweight, superweight and cruiser classes. Toney, who was without a doubt one of the greatest boxers of his time, last fought professionally in 2017.
Despite never going head-to-head with Jones or Toney, Cotto has earned one of the biggest and most earned fame of his generation. Cotto started boxing professionally in 2001 and has gone on to win world titles in the bodyweight, welterweight, middleweight and middleweight divisions. After battling pretty much every big name available to him, Cotto finally hung up his gloves after his last game in 2017.
Holm may be better known for her exploits in the UFC, but she’s previously been a world number one boxer, one who has won world titles across weight divisions. light, super light and weight class. Her boxing career lasted from 2002 to 2013. As for Halmich, the German boxer has an extremely impressive record of 54-1-1 stemming from a career that began in 1994. As of the tournament. In 2007, Halmich won more than 45 matches in a row.
Although Jones, Toney, and Cotto were already wearing shoes, the fact that they were now walking into the Hall was a sort of cherry on a cake, a sign from the sport of boxing itself that they, along with the likes of, Holm and Halmich, have far exceeded expectations. “This is an absolutely amazing feeling,” Yahoo quoted Jones as saying. “I’m honored to have this opportunity and I can’t wait to go to Canastota to see it come to fruition.”
Due to the Covid 19 pandemic, the class of 2022 will be included in the Hall along with the class of 2020 and 2021.
