Hall welcomes Class of 2011

Today, lawyer Steve Yerrid doesn't deny his fighting spirit.

He focuses his competitive nature in the courtroom, fighting to gain favorable judgments. But Sunday during the 2011 Florida Boxing Hall of Fame induction ceremony, Yerrid said that, as a teenager at Plant High, his penchant for fisticuffs led to an abbreviated athletic career at the school and later a stint as an amateur boxer.

"What I really learned was from my mother," said Yerrid, who was part of a team of lawyers that earned the biggest settlement in U.S. history against tobacco companies. "My mother divorced my father when I was 7. On $300 a month she raised a young man and she made choices that determined my future. She was sacrificing for my benefit and … she gave me the ability to have compassion."

Yerrid was one of 20 inducted into the FBHOF, which welcomed its inaugural class in 2009. Three others, Dana Jamison, Jim McLoughlin and Leo Thalassites, received honors from the hall.

The newest members: fighters — Tyrone Booze, Roland LaStarza, John Mugabi, Elisha Obed, Freddie Pendleton, Manuel Quintero and Holman Williams; trainers — Pete Fernandez, Alton Merkerson and Dwaine Simpson; promoter — Pete Ashlock; historian — Ramiro Ortiz; media — Karl Freitag and Col. Bob Sheridan; official/commission — Eddie Eckert; participants — John Daddono, Frank Freeman, Harold Reitman, Tommy Torino and Yerrid.

Fernandez, who helped guide the careers of former champions Nate Campbell, Juan Urango and former contender Edner Cherry, said his true joy came from the lesser knowns.

"For me, (the joy) is working with the young kids," said Fernandez, who was encouraged to become a trainer by Sugar Ray Robinson's manager, George Gainford. "For me, it's working with that 0-1 kid, that 1-1 (or) 3-3 kid. … That kid going in there and getting cut and losing the fight and going home. Most of those kids don't even care about the little money they make in a night."

One of the more touching moments came during the induction of Obed, widely considered one of the best boxers to come from the Bahamas. After making his way to Miami, he became the WBC junior middleweight champion in 1975. He ended his career in 1988 with a 88-21-4 record.

Obed, now wheelchair-bound and only able to speak in a hushed tone, had his brother, Vanwright Ferguson, make his inauguration speech. At the end, Furguson grabbed the microphone stand and tilted it to his left, lowering it to Obed.

"I really don't know what to say," Obed said, pausing for a moment. "Seriously. I really don't know what to say."