Note: Gallery 2 is photos of
all of the Inductees who were
in attendance at the 2019 Event,
and in addition to receiving their
IWBHF Induction Plaques
They received a Special
award in 2019 for coming
Then to celebrate their induction>
The following inductees from
2016 and 2017 that attended were
the following:
BRITT VANBUSKIRK
RIA RAMNARNE
SUMYA ANANI
ELENA REID
DAISY LANG
Special Awards
Lifetime Achievement Award
CHRISTY MARTIN
Special Award
Female Police Officer
and Amateur Boxer
Killed in Line of Duty in 2019
*Parents accepted the award
NATALIE CORONA
Special Award
Pioneer female Boxer 1980s
GRACIELA CASILLAS
Special Awards for Speakers
JILL DIAMOND
ROY ENGLEBRECHT
MICHELE ABORO
2020 IWBHF INDUCTEE
Super
bantamweight Michele Aboro was born in Hammersmith, in West London,
United Kingdom. At the age of two, she moved to Peckham, in
South London, and lived in Peckham until she was sixteen.
The first sport that she participated in was motocross, but at the age
of 19, she took up kickboxing and Muay Thai. She went on to win
five British titles, one European, and three world titles. She went to
Amsterdam in 1994 to train with Johan Vos and compiled a 32-2-1 record
with 23 KO's as a kickboxer.
Like many kickboxers with few worlds left to conquer in that sport,
Michele took up professional boxing. She left a trail of destruction in
Europe rings, fighting as a super bantamweight and/or junior
featherweight.
During her professional boxing career, she fought from 1995 to 2001,
with some of the most noted top female boxers, fighting Kelsey Jeffries,
Leona Brown, Eva Jones Young, Daisy Lang, among other great matchups.
During this time she remained undefeated with an astounding 21-0-0
(12KO) boxing record.
Aboro, along
with her countrywoman Michelle Sutcliffe and with German Regina Halmich,
had become an important figure in European women's boxing, helping raise
awareness about female participation on this, traditionally male sport,
in Europe.
Aboro was the reigning WIBF Super Bantamweight champion since February
2000, when she won the vacant title by a unanimous decision over Eva
Jones Young, and successfully defended that title three times before
retiring. Prior to that, in 1998, she also had won the vacant WIBF
European Super Bantamweight title, and defending that title once.
After Aboro
retired, she now gives back to the community through the Aboro
Foundation and Boxing Academy in Shanghai, China, but but not before
having had a career in the music industry as well.
In 2020, Aboro was inducted into the International Women's Boxing Hall
of Fame, among other stellar inductees, that included Kelsey Jeffries;
Melinda Cooper; Mary Ortega; Sharon Anyos; Isra Girgrah Wynn; Lisa
Brown; Jaime Clampitt; Valerie Mahfood; Graciela Casillas;
Mary Ann Owen; and Shelley Williams.
