At a banquet on the eve of his Hall of Fame acceptance, Floyd Mayweather Jr. was reduced to tears as he accepted the honor.
"I've done a lot in my career, but this is by far the best," said the boxer, who credited his family for his success. The International Boxing Hall of Fame gave me this. It's going to my dad because he deserves it. My dad earned this ring after my father was told by BernardHopkins that he had to earn it.
Thank you so much for your support. I would like to say thank you to the fighters. Without you I wouldn't be able to.
The three classes that were inducted Sunday were led by Floyd Mayweather. The previous two ceremonies were postponed due to the swine flu. The ceremony was moved from the Hall of Fame's home in New York to make room for 36 people.
This year's class included Roy Jones Jr., Miguel Cotto, James Toney and female champions. The class of 2020 included multi-division champion boxers. The class of 2021 included some of the best athletes in the world.
Among those who were honored were the first female fighters. When she was featured on some of Mike Tyson's fight cards in the 1990's, she became famous. Ali won her first match in 1999 against April Fowler at Turning Stone.
Only one fighter was going to be at the ceremony. The one that wasn't present was the former champ. During the war against invading Russia, he is helping his brother, Vitali, the mayor of the capital city of Kyiv.
Two short videos were released on social media to acknowledge the honor.
I would like to thank you fans. I didn't think I'd get that far in the sport. He thought it was amazing. Boxers make me a better person. I learned a lot from it.
Even though his videos were short, he criticized Jones for going to Russian-occupied Crimea.
"Who are you on?" "I told you so." I really question your morals, but I respect you as a fighter.
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