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Hall of Fame finally rings Chargin’s bell

Steve Yingling

What do you think boxing promoter Don Chargin was doing only a few days before departing for New York for the crowning moment of his half-century career? Promoting his next boxing card, of course.

Almost an interruption to shoring up the July 6 fight card at Harrah’s Lake Tahoe, Chargin will take a break to be inducted into the International Boxing on Sunday in Canastota, N.Y.

“I’ve been hoping for this for the last 10 years,” Chargin said.



Chargin will go into the hall with trainer George Benton, middleweight great Laszlo Papp, former lightweight champion Ismael Laguna of Hungary and former featherweight champion Ultiminio “Sugar” Ramos.

Chargin has worked his boxing magic almost exclusively in Sacramento and Los Angeles.



After toiling as a middleweight in the amateur ranks for a while, Chargin wasted no time entering the promotional side of the business. He began promoting bouts while he was a student at San Jose State in the late 1940s.

His career took off in 1964 when he started promoting fights at the Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles. Throughout his lengthy career as a promoter Chargin has given fight fans shows from Muhammad Ali, Sonny Liston, Marvin Hagler and Tony Lopez.

But with the highest honor in boxing now in his corner don’t expect him to slow down any time soon.

“Never. After all these years, there’s not to many other things to do,” Chargin said.


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