Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame CEO on 5th Annual Induction Dinner
By Ryan Burton
On Saturday the Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame will have their 5th Annual Induction Dinner at Caesar's Palace on the Las Vegas strip. Michael Carbajal, Thomas Hearns, Erik Morales, Ken Norton, Lucia Rijker, the late Salvador Sanchez, Richie Sandoval and Leon and Michael Spinks will all be inducted in the "Boxers" category while Rafael Garcia, Dr. Elias Ghanem, Mel Greb, Debbie Munch and Davey Pearl will be be this year's "Non-Boxers" class.
Previous inductees include the likes of Mike Tyson, Julio Cesar Chavez, Oscar De La Hoya, Tito Trinidad, Sugar Ray Leonard and Roberto Duran.
While the process of selecting each class may seem easy, Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame CEO Michelle Corrales-Lewis said that the process is very detailed and takes more time than one would imagine.
"It is always a really long process with our entire board of the Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame and it is all based on the fighter's career and their history in the sport of boxing of what they have done in the state of Nevada. All of these wonderful legend's careers have been taken into account, how many times they have fought here and the impact of the fights that were held here in Nevada. Their records, literally every detail of a boxer's career is taken into account when we are in that voting room. Usually it takes us between 4 and 6 hours to hash out the induction class so it is not as simple as people think. It is definitely very important because there are so many worthy champions on our ballots," Corrales-Lewis explained.
This year's Nevada Pro Boxer of the Year, which is given to an active fighter who resides in Las Vegas, will be Shawn Porter who knocked out Andre Berto in April. Former super middleweight champion Badou Jack picked up last year's award after Floyd Mayweather won it the first three years of its existence.
"Absolutely (we looked at) his recent victory over Berto. What we do for our Boxer of the Year is we look at their activity within the year between last year's gala and the upcoming gala, usually with the cutoff being late June. We look at the fights that were held and their record and that is how the Fighter of the Year is determined," stated Corrales-Lewis.
"Of course with Floyd he would always fight in May and he would always fight in September and he is always victorious so it was always a no-brainer when he was active. He was the Fighter of the Year for the first three years."
On Friday afternoon, the NVBHOF will have a fan meet and great at Caesar's Palace where the public will be able to interact with fighters in a variety of ways. The Hall of Fame weekend will also include an amateur fight on Saturday that is open to the public before the star studded dinner that is always attended by several active fighter and retired fighters.
"We have our meet and greet on Friday which is a fan experience which is interactive fun activities like hit the mitts with a champ. I am having the champions come just ready to rumble with the participants and the attendees. It makes it fun and interactive. Then we have our amateur fight on Saturday. It is totally open to the public to come out and watch the fight, and watch this wonderful WBC Greenbelt Challenge. These are all items that a boxing fan would love. Even if you travel from out of the country - which we do have people who come every year from the UK and other places that want to be a part of this event annually. They have have participated and they realize that this is one of those things that you just don't want to miss," Corrales-Lewis told BoxingScene.com.
Tickets to the Meet and Greet and to the 5th Annual Induction Dinner can be purchased here: https://www.eventbrite.com/o/nevada-boxing-hall-of-fame-6352624255 Meet and Greet tickets are 50% off with the purchase of a dinner ticket.
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