Thom Loverro named to D.C. Boxing Hall of Fame

Washington Times sports columnist Thom Loverro has been named to the Washington, D.C., Boxing Hall of Fame, along with longtime local sportscaster Glenn Harris, trainer Barry Hunter, the late D.C. Boxing Deputy Commissioner Alfred Grant and the late D.C. Boxing Commission Chairman Dr. Arnold McKnight. Also joining the local Hall of Fame are former local fighters Andrew Maynard, James Baker, Percy Harris, Sean Johnson and Alfonzo Hatcher.

The inductees, along with local super featherweight contender Lamont Roach, Jr., recipient of the James Balukevich Outstanding Boxer Award for 2016, will be honored Nov. 11 at Martins Crosswinds in Greenbelt.

Loverro, a sportswriter at The Washington Times since 1992, covered local fighters during D.C.’s golden age of boxing, when the region was home to champions, including middleweight title holders William Joppy and Keith Holmes, junior welterweight champion Sharma Mitchell and flyweight champion Mark “Too Sharp” Johnson, among others.

Loverro covered nearly all of Riddick Bowe’s heavyweight fights in the 1990s, as well as the battles between Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis.

He is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and has won numerous writing awards from the organization, most recently for his exclusive story about how the FBI believed that Muhammad Ali’s — then known as Cassius Clay — 1964 fight against Sonny Liston was fixed. Clay stopped Liston in a stunning upset to win the heavyweight title.

Loverro spent time with Ali at his legendary “Fighters Heaven” training camp in Deer Lake, Pa., and also spent many hours at local gyms talking to fighters and trainers. “I’ve loved boxing ever since I grew up in Brooklyn, N.Y., listening to Nino Benvenuti fighting Emile Griffith on the radio from Madison Square Garden,” Loverro said. “Boxing is where the great stories are.”

The author of 11 books, Loverro has won more than 40 journalism awards over his 38-year career — including both D.C. Sportswriter of the Year in 2014 and Maryland Sportswriter of the Year in 2009 from the National Sports Media Association. He has been honored four times for his columns by the Virginia Press Association.