Five world championship boxers announced as 2024 honorees for Yo - WFMJ.com News weather sports for Youngstown-Warren Ohio

Five world championship boxers announced as 2024 honorees for Youngstown Walk of Fame

Youngstown Mayor Tito Brown has announced the city's five world championship as the 2024 honorees for the Youngstown Walk of Fame.

Youngstown has five world championship boxers including Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini, Kelly "The Ghost" Pavlik, Harry Arroyo, Jeff Lampkin and Greg Richardson. All five will be honored at once.

Mayor Brown says often times, people outside of the city don't realize just how many championship boxers the city has.

"When I go places and I say I have five world champion boxers from my city, people are amazed by that," Mayor Brown said.

"We're going to honor all five of our championship boxers in one but they'll all have their own marker," explained Melanie Clarke-Penella, Events Coordinator for the City of Youngstown. "Which is very exciting."

The Walk of Fame project launched back in 2023 and aims to celebrate Youngstown's rich history and notable figures. The first to be honored was the music group Kool & The Gang whose founder Robert "Kool" Bell and his brother Ronald are from Youngstown.

Kool & The Gang's permanent marker on the Walk of Fame was unveiled during Thursday's ceremony. The marker is pictured below.

"Kool & The Gang became our first honoree because we had this idea and then they were coming into town for a concert," explained Clarke-Penella. "We reached out to them and they were so excited."

Mayor Brown says looking to the future, the city will be taking nominees for future markers on the Walk of Fame with plenty of candidates to choose from.

"It's going to be a big fight about who's next. It's not necessarily about who's not going to be here. It's going to be about who's next," Mayor Brown said.

The ceremony inducting the boxing legends has yet to be scheduled. The City will select next year's inductee using the public's help.

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