Mike Acri, promoter to world champions Roberto Duran, Hector Camacho Sr. and Paul Spadafora, will be inducted into the Pennsylvania Boxing Hall of Fame on Sunday.
The Erie-based matchmaker was a fixture in the Pittsburgh fight scene in the late 1990s and early 2000s, when he served as the promoter to Spadafora. The former IBF lightweight champion from McKees Rocks won the belt in August 1999 and made eight title defenses in local venues ranging from Civic Arena and David L. Lawrence Convention Center to Palumbo Center and Petersen Events Center.
“It’s nice to be inducted into the Pennsylvania Boxing Hall of Fame, which honors the state’s rich boxing heritage,” Acri said in a statement.
Acri is one of 16 inductees who will be honored at the PA Boxing Hall of Fame banquet in Philadelphia, along with boxers Angel Cruz, brothers Anthony and Frank Fletcher, Tony Green, Mark Holmes, Marvin Mack, Johnny Morris, Ernie Singletary, Mike Stewart and Jersey Joe Walcott, as well as 1940s amateur Larry Torpey, and ring doctor George Bonner, cut man Stan Maliszewski and trainers Carey “Pop Bates” Williams and Willie Reddish Jr.
It is the sport’s oldest hall of fame.
Kevin Gorman is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at [email protected] or via Twitter @KGorman_Trib.
