VERONA, N.Y. (AP) — Gennadiy Golovkin was always more about big punches than big words. Talking was for fighters like Antonio Tarver.
But on Hall of Fame induction day, even guys like Tarver can have trouble getting the words out.
“They always say I’m good on the mic but I don’t know, this is going to be tough,” Tarver said Sunday.
He and Golovkin both got through their speeches near the end of the ceremony for the class of 2026 that is being enshrined in the International Boxing Hall of Fame in Canastota, New York.
Golovkin went 42-2-1 with 37 KOs as one of the top middleweights in boxing history. He made a record-tying 20 consecutive title defenses in the 160-pound weight class, earning his first title in 2010 and remaining champion until Canelo Alvarez edged him in 2018 in their second blockbuster bout.
The native of Kazakhstan thanked his family, his trainers, his chef and officials from Madison Square Garden, where he had some of the memorable moments in his career.
“I have a great time with these people, a great time with my boxing family because, like 35 years I stayed in boxing, and this is my life," Golovkin said.
Nigel Benn, like Golovkin also a champion at middleweight and later at super middleweight, where he held the belt for four years, was also enshrined after going 42-5-1 with 35 KOs.
Cut men Russ Anber and Jimmy Glenn, referee Frank Cappuccino and Dr. Edwin “Flip” Homansky, who became just the second physician to be inducted, were also enshrined during the ceremony at the Turning Stone Casino.
Tarver (31-6-1, 22 KOs) won one of his light heavyweight championships in 2004 when he knocked out Roy Jones Jr., who had long been considered the top fighter in the sport. Tarver beat Jones in two of their three fights, but his charisma helped him become known for far more than his success inside the ring. He was a top boxing TV analyst and famously played heavyweight champion Mason Dixon in “Rocky Balboa.”
“To the sport of boxing, you saved my life,” Tarver said. “You give me an identity, you gave me direction and a platform to show the world who I really was. Boxing taught me resilience, courage and the power of belief in yourself when the odds are always stacked against you.”
Before they became rivals, Jones' controversial loss in a gold-medal match in the 1988 Olympics helped send Tarver on his way to greatness.
“When I witnessed the great Roy Jones get robbed, bro, I can’t tell you,” Tarver said. “I got off the couch and ran three miles and I’ve been running ever since.”
Anber was working that match as a commentator, recalling rising from his seat and saying “They’re gonna rob Roy Jones.” During his lengthy career in the corners, he worked with boxing greats such as Oleksandr Usyk, Vasily Lomachenko and Deontay Wilder.
“I’ve spent 48 years sitting on a wooden stool with a steel bucket at my feet, a towel over my shoulder, a Q-tip in my mouth and a glob of Vaseline on the back of my hand, and it’s been the best seat in the house,” Anber said.
Naoko Fujioka, Japan’s first five-division champion who went 19-3-1 with 7 KOs, was inducted, along with fellow women’s champion Jackie Nava, who won titles at bantamweight and super bantamweight in consecutive fights in 2005 to highlight her 40-4-4 career with 16 KOs.
Rounding out the class were Jimmy Clabby, who went 86-21-23 with 46 KOs before retiring in 1923, and journalist Kevin Iole and late broadcaster Alex Wallau from the Observer category.
A smiling Golovkin enjoyed his time with all who were on stage with them. Triple G even declined a request to boast that the event was a “Big Drama Show,” his description of the punishing performances he planned to and so often delivered.
“Not today,” he said. “Today is a different day. It’s a special day for these guys, not for me.”
AP boxing: https://apnews.com/boxing
FILE - Antonio Tarver, right, takes a punch from Lateef Kayode, of Nigeria, during a boxing match in Carson, Calif., June 2, 2012. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)
FILE - Gennadiy Golovkin, of Kazakhstan, left, and Ryota Murata, of Japan, greet each other after a boxing title match in Saitama, near Tokyo, April 9, 2022. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama, File)
BASEL, Switzerland--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun 15, 2026--
India’s agriculture sector is a global powerhouse, uniquely characterized by its massive scale, vast arable land, diverse agro-climatic zones and rich biodiversity. These strengths have propelled the country to become one of the world’s leading producers of crops such as rice and wheat. However, farmers in the country face significant challenges – from erratic monsoons, severe droughts and unseasonal rains compounded by El Nino, to pests and diseases that destroy an estimated 30 percent of crops annually. More than 80 percent of India’s estimated 150 million farming households are composed of smallholder farmers who operate on less than two hectares of land. This limits economies of scale, sets obstacles to the wider adoption of advanced technologies and could widen a systemic gap between large commercial agricultural operations and the bulk of its farming population.
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Providing India’s farmers with free, real-time and personalized agricultural intelligence – at scale – could transform the country’s agriculture.
This vision is at the heart of an ambitious program called Annam.AI, which aims to build a nationwide agricultural intelligence backbone based on open data, that enables precision agriculture and fosters climate resilience. This would provide India’s farmers hyperlocal, AI-powered advisories that integrate crop intelligence, real-time microclimate data and multilingual engagement tools. Annam.AI (Alliance for Next-gen Nourishment through Agriculture Modernization, and denoting “food” in Sanskrit language) is backed by the Government of India through the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, global technology partners such as Google, and is driven by IIT Ropar, a premier engineering and technology university in Punjab that is part of the prestigious Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) system.
Syngenta, a global leader in agricultural innovation with a long-standing presence in India, today announced it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding to be a strategic partner in the Annam.AI program, at an event in Nice, France attended by India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and France’s President Emmanuel Macron. Syngenta is to leverage its R&D and agronomic expertise in building accurate crop health, pest forecasting and heat stress models.
Jeff Rowe, Syngenta Group’s Chief Executive Officer, said: “At Syngenta we're creating breakthroughs for farmers in every field, to deliver higher yields with lower impact. Annam.AI presents a unique opportunity to contribute to a transformative, digital foundation for Indian agriculture that will benefit more than 600 million people in this country. We are deeply honored to work with many talented and committed people in India’s government and universities, as well as with other innovation leaders in fulfilling this vision.”
About Syngenta Group
Syngenta Group is one of the world’s biggest agricultural innovation companies, employing over 50,000 people in more than 90 countries. Syngenta Group is focused on developing technologies and farming practices that empower farmers, so they can make the transformation required to feed the world’s population while preserving our planet. Syngenta Group’s bold scientific discoveries deliver better benefits for farmers and society on a bigger scale than ever before. Guided by its Sustainability Goal, Syngenta Group supports farmers to grow healthier plants in healthier soil with a higher yield.
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Syngenta Country Head for France Anne Azam (2nd from right) with India’s Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal (3rd from left) and Annam Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India Dr. Ajay Sood (3rd from right) at the signing ceremony.
