By David Martinez / Boxing Historian

After attending a special boxing Christmas party luncheon in Los Angles this past Friday, which was sponsored by the California Golden State Boxers Association, I was saddened to receive the news later that night (via a close boxing associate and friend, Jim Carlin) that long time boxing historian and icon, Hank Kaplan, had passed away 다운로드.

In my lifetime, I have been blessed to have met the three men whom I consider the greatest boxing historians ever : Al Nelson, Nat Fleischer, and Hank Kaplan 다운로드.

It was October of 1998 when former World Boxing Hall of Fame president Dub Harris introduced me to Hank. We bonded well with our mutual love for boxing, and to my surprise, I was able to spend more than enough time in private with him 다운로드.

That visit with Hank was a memorable experience which, to this day, I consider a treasure.

Hank gave me a few gifts, which I still have, of course; but there was one single thing he told me that I will simply never forget, and that I have carried with me for so many years. He told me, with his sincere wisdom, that if I am to be a boxing historian of any respect, to study and know your trade well and the gifts will come later.

Hank Kaplan

I actually used that same quote in my speech when I was inducted into the California Boxing Hall of Fame this past September 2007.

A man of great respect in the boxing world, Hank has given a gift to me, as well as to the many others whose lives he touched. He will be remembered by his peers as one of the greatest, if not the greatest, boxing historians of our lifetime – Hank Kaplan.

Hank was inducted into the World Boxing Hall of Fame in 1994, and was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2006. May God bless his soul in heaven.