\n John Doherty, 63, a three-time British super featherweight champion between 1986 and 1992, was recognised last weekend in Hastings for his outstanding contributions to boxing.\n<\/p>\n
\n The ceremony, held on Sunday at the Bannatyne Hotel, continues to grow stronger each year. Now in its tenth year, it is fast becoming one of the UK\u2019s most prestigious boxing events, with all 300 tickets selling out rapidly.\n<\/p>\n
\n Doherty, who boasted an impressive career record of 28 wins, 8 losses, and 3 draws over ten years from 1982 to 1992, was inducted into the Hall of Fame under the \u2018modern era\u2019 category.\n<\/p>\n
\n In doing so, he joined his good friend and former coach, John Celebanski – a 2023 inductee – in the Hall of Fame.\n<\/p>\n
\n And Celebanski made the long journey down south to celebrate the occasion with him.\n<\/p>\n
\n Speaking to the T&A about his achievement, Doherty admitted that receiving the award came as a pleasant surprise.\n<\/p>\n
\n He said: \u201cWhen you get there and you\u2019re amongst it all, then you realise it\u2019s quite an honour to have been inducted into it (Hall of Fame).\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI\u2019m not one for getting up on stage and talking; I\u2019d much rather get in the ring, but I was proud to be invited to the stage to collect my award along with John (Celebanski).\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cIt felt special to be in the presence of big names such as Joe Calzaghe (who was also inducted into the British Boxing Hall of Fame on Sunday).\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI didn\u2019t expect to be honoured in this way, but I have now, and I feel proud to have done so.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI suppose, everyone who has been inducted into the Hall of Fame has played their part in boxing, whatever way you look at it.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n John Doherty is handed his certificate of achievement.(Image: Supplied)\n<\/p>\n
\n Reflecting on the highlight of his career – a period that saw him reclaim the British title three times – Doherty was taken back to a memorable night in Newport in September 1982.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cWithout a shadow of a doubt, the one that stands out for me is my fight with Floyd Havard,\u201d said Doherty.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cFloyd was rated number one and two in three big divisions (IBF and WBC). He\u2019d also beaten Pad Cowdell, who had beaten me previously in a British title bout, so I wasn\u2019t expected to win.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cSo, to go to Newport, Wales and claim an 11th round stoppage for the British title was an amazing feeling.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cIt\u2019s one I\u2019ll look back on forever.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Doherty first walked into his good friend Celebanski\u2019s gym as an 18-year-old, determined to make his mark in boxing – and he did, with his coach by his side every step of the way.\n<\/p>\n
\n Fast forward to today, with both men now inducted into the British Boxing Hall of Fame, the pair can look back with pride on a truly successful partnership.\n<\/p>\n
\n Speaking to the T&A, Celebankski said of his friend\u2019s achievement: \u201cIt\u2019s an incredibly proud moment for John, but for me too because I have so much respect for him.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cHe\u2019s one of the nicest guys you\u2019ll meet, as are his family, and they deserve this recognition.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cHe worked tirelessly as a fighter, come summer or winter, and he deserved every bit of success he got throughout his career.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"John Doherty, 63, a three-time British super featherweight champion between 1986 and 1992, was recognised last weekend in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":169620,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-169619","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-boxing","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=169619"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169619\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/169620"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=169619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=169619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=169619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}