US boxing superstar Floyd Mayweather Jr gives a thumbs up at the end of a press conference at a Tokyo hotel on December 29, 2018. (Photo by Toshifumi KITAMURA / AFP)
Floyd Mayweather captured 11 titles in five weight divisions and retired unbeaten.
So, of course, he was voted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame as soon as he became eligible.
Mayweather was announced Tuesday as part of the 2021 class of inductees that includes former heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko, unbeaten woman’s boxing pioneer Laila Ali and former Olympic champion Andre Ward, among others.
“It is a great honor for me to be inducted … as a first-ballot nominee,” Mayweather said. “Throughout my career, I gave everything I could to the sport of boxing, and now to be recognized by one of the most prestigious honors in the sport for that hard work and dedication is very humbling.”
Mayweather, who finished his boxing career 50-0 (27 KOs), won three National Golden Gloves titles and a bronze medal at the 1996 Olympic Games as an amateur. He turned pro in 1996 and won his first title, the WBC junior lightweight title, in just his 18th bout.
Klitschko turned pro after winning the super heavyweight gold medal at the 1996 Games and went on to compile a 64-5 (53 KOs) pro record that including a 12-year, two-day reign as heavyweight champion — the longest in history.
Ali, the daughter of three-time heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali, was 24-0 (21 KOs) in her career, and she held world titles as a super middleweight and light heavyweight. Her fight against Jacqui Frazier-Lyde in 2001 was the first women’s bout to headline a pay-per-view.
Ward was 32-0 (16 KOs) and a champion in the super-middleweight and light-heavyweight divisions, in addition to earning a gold medal at the 2004 Games — the last American man to capture a gold.
Also included in the new class of inductees were Ann Wolfe, Marian Trimiar and Dr. Margaret Goodman. Lightweight champion Davey Moore, Jackie Tonawanda, cut man Freddie Brown, manager-trainer Jackie McCoy, journalist George Kimball and television executive Jay Larkin were elected posthumously.
The nominees are voted on by members of the Boxing Writers Association of America. The induction ceremony will be June 14, 2021, and will include members of the class of 2020, who had their induction postponed by the coronavirus pandemic.