Inaugural class of Alabama Boxing Hall of Fame includes heavy hitters
Deontay Wilder, left, defends his World Boxing Council heavyweight title against Gerald Washington in February. The reigning champ is being inducted into the inaugural class of the Alabama Boxing Hall of Fame, but for his accomplishments as an amateur boxer, not his professional career. (Nik Layman/Alabama NewsCenter)
Jeff Dodson, a boxing referee who laced on the gloves himself years ago, broached the subject of creating a hall of fame for Alabama.
“There’s a lot of history in our state and a lot of people connected with it who need to be recognized,” said Dodson, now the mayor of Woodstock in Bibb County. “A lot of people had put their stamp on the game here in the state and had traveled elsewhere to do it as well.”
Two years later, conversations between Dodson and trainer/manager Jay Deas have yielded the inaugural class of the Alabama Boxing Hall of Fame. Five men will be honored in a ceremony Friday, May 12, as part of a professional fight card at the Tuscaloosa River Market.
Festivities begin at 7 p.m.
“I think this will open a lot of eyes,” said Deas, trainer/manager of World Boxing Council heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder. “It’s a very deep and rich history.”
Each category had more than 50 nominees, and those lists were whittled down to six finalists per category. The panel then selected the winners, with only one person per category being inducted per year.
The first class comprises:
- Pro Boxer (must be retired at least five years): Joe Louis.
- Amateur Boxer (last amateur fight at least five years prior to induction): Deontay Wilder.
- Old-Timer (last fight before 1950): Petey Sarron.
- Manager/Trainer/Promoter: Eddie Surrett.
- Support Personnel (judges, refs, officials, legislators, doctors, commissioners, media, etc.): Billy Martin.
Louis and Sarron are being inducted posthumously.
Deas said there is no lack of potential candidates, noting that there were nearly 100 names to consider in some categories.
“There’s certainly enough names to go around and keep it going for a long, long time,” he said. “Plus, we made the decision to only induct one person per category, per year.”
Organizers wanted to avoid the pitfall of some boxing halls of fame in which 15 to 20 fighters were inducted in a year.
“We wanted ours to be very elite, very special,” Deas said. “When a guy like Evander Holyfield is going to make it in year two, probably, and not year one, that tells you that’s a very elite group. The only reason Holyfield didn’t go in in year one was because Joe Louis did. That tells you how special you have to be to make the hall of fame in Alabama.”
Wilder is part of the first class of inductees, but not for his professional exploits. The Tuscaloosa native goes in the amateur category, in part because of the Olympic bronze medal he earned in the 2008 Beijing Games despite making the team with just 21 bouts of amateur experience.
Louis, born Joe Louis Barrow in Lafayette, was 66-3 with 52 knockouts. He made 25 successful title defenses, which is a record for the heavyweight division. Known as the “Brown Bomber,” he is listed by boxing experts as one of the greatest of all time and is in the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame.
Born in Birmingham, Sarron was 102-23-12 with 25 knockouts. He won the world featherweight title in 1936 with a 15-round decision over Freddie Miller in Washington, D.C., before a crowd of 23,000. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2016.
Mobile’s Surrett was largely responsible for boxing’s resurgence in Alabama in the ‘80s and ‘90s. He brought international TV boxing to the Port City, serving as manager, trainer or promoter – sometimes all three at once.
Martin, of Gadsden, was a successful amateur and professional boxer. He was a judge and referee for USA Boxing for more than 40 years and an inaugural member of the reformed Alabama Athletic Commission that was established by the Legislature in 2008.
So far, the Alabama Boxing Hall of Fame is an honor and an event, but not a location. Deas said it could someday be part of the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame, or maybe in a recreation center.
In addition to the Hall of Fame induction and the scheduled bouts, amateur boxing awards will be presented:
- 2016 Amateur Boxer of the Year: Money Powell of Fort Mitchell.
- 2016 Junior Boxer of the Year: (tie) Jadalie Medeiros of Dothan and Sunshine Ammons of Huntsville.
- 2016 Master Boxer of the Year: Dr. Ted Cox of Winfield.
- 2016 Club of the Year: Round 1 of Birmingham.
Tickets to the induction/fight card will be $50 and $100, and include dinner and the official fight program booklet. Tickets will go on sale soon.
For more information, call Deas at 205-799-1696.
