Former featherweight champion Danny “Little Red” Lopez and light flyweight champ Chang Jung-koo were voted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame along with 11 others on Tuesday.
Among the other living inductees to be enshrined on June 13 are: manager Shelly Finkel; referee and commissioner Larry Hazzard; German promoter Wilfried Sauerland; matchmaker Bruce Trampler; and longtime Associated Press boxing writer Ed Schuyler Jr.
Posthumous honorees elected by the Boxing Writers Association include: light heavyweight Lloyd Marshall; featherweight champion Young Corbett II; lightweight champion Rocky Kansas; heavyweight contender Billy Miske; pioneer Paddington Tom Jones; and broadcaster Howard Cosell.
In a 10-year professional featherweight career, Lopez went 42-6 with 39 knockouts.
Lopez learnt the sweet science in Utah at the age of 16 before turning pro in 1971 and beginning his career with 21 straight knockouts. Lopez challenged Davey Kotey in 1976 for the WBC featherweight championship in Kotey’s homeland of Ghana. In front of 122,000 fans, Lopez, spurred by fans from the US embassy, won the title on a 15-round decision. A string of eight successful title defenses followed.
Lopez’s title run ended in 1980 when Salvador Sanchez knocked him out in the 13th round. After Sanchez knocked him out again in their rematch, Lopez retired, though he fought one more time.
Chang, the first South Korean to be inducted into the hall, turned pro at 17 in 1980 without having fought as an amateur, and won his first 18 bouts. In 1982, he lost for the first time on a split decision in a challenge for Hilario Zapata’s WBC light flyweight title, but won the rematch three months later with a third-round TKO.
Chang’s five-year reign included a then division record of 15 successful defenses until 1988. He retired in 1991 with a 38-4 (17 KOs) record.
Corbett (68-22-16, 47 KOs) fought at the turn of the 20th century, taking Terry McGovern’s world featherweight title with a third-round knockout, winning the rematch by knockout in the 11th, and going six rounds for a no decision in their third fight.
Kansas (64-12-7, 32 KOs) won the lightweight title 15 years into his career, held it for only months, retired and lost his one comeback fight six years later in 1932. Miske (48-2-2, 35 KOs) was diagnosed with a kidney ailment known as Bright’s Disease in 1918.
He lost his career title shot in three rounds to heavyweight Jack Dempsey but kept on fighting the best of his era until November 1923. He died on New Year’s Day 1924 at age 29.
Paddington Tom Jones turned pro in 1786 at 20, routinely fought heavier men, and by the time he finished he was credited with more bouts than anyone.
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