International Sports Hall of Fame 2015 Ceremony and Arnold Sports Festival 2015

Over 100 members of the international press and legendary World Champions from numerous sports witnessed the once in a lifetime experience of seeing these world famous sports Icons and Hollywood action stars inducted: Paul “TRIPLE H” Levesque-13 Time World WWE Champion, Evander Holyfield-5 time World Boxing Champion, Lenda Murray-8 Time Ms. Olympia World Bodybuilding Champion, Don ‘The Dragon’ Wilson-11 Time World Kickboxing Champion & movie star. Ed Coan-Holder of over 70 World Powerlifting Records Michael Jai White-Holder 8 Black Belts & Movie star Over 200,000 attendees in over 50 sports and over 20,000 competing athletes experienced the amazing Arnold Sports Festival weekend, with its jewel being the International Sports Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Check out the full feature video of this event at my video section. FOR 1000+ PICTURES CLICK HERE! PAUL “TRIPLE H” LEVESQUE Paul “Triple H” Levesque is a 13 Time World Champion and WWE’s Executive Vice President, Talent, Live Events & Creative. In this role, he oversees the talent relations and talent development departments, training of WWE Superstars and Divas and management of worldwide recruitment and live global events. In addition to his talent and live event duties, Levesque has continually had an integral role behind-the-scenes. As a Director and Producer, he works to shape the creative direction and storylines of WWE’s programming. In 2013, Levesque oversaw the development of the state-of-the-art WWE Performance Center in Orlando, FL, serving as the new home to WWE’s talent developmental system, NXT. Equipped with a world-class training facility with seven training rings and 5,500 square-foot training room, the Performance Center will give WWE the ability to train more potential performers than ever. In addition to the new Performance Center, Levesque has helped expand WWE’s global presence to more countries than ever before. Under his guidance, the WWE reached new milestones by holding live events in Abu Dhabi, Russia, Egypt and Brazil for the first time. In the third quarter of 2014, the WWE held 73 live events domestically and 6 internationally, entertaining approximately 306,000 fans. Levesque debuted as a WWE Superstar in 1995. To this day, he still competes in the ring as Triple H and is one of the most prolific performers in WWE history. At WrestleMania 29 with his career on the line, Levesque defeated Brock Lesnar in a “No Holds Barred Match” in front of sold out crowd of 80,676 fans at MetLife Stadium and millions watching around the world. Also known as “The Game” and the “King of Kings,” Levesque was a founding member of the popular faction — D-Generation X — a pop culture phenomenon throughout the last two decades. He has captured every major championship, headlined thousands of WWE events and entertained millions around the world. EVANDER HOLYFIELD 5 Time World Boxing Champion Evander Holyfield grew up as the youngest of 9 children in Atmore, Alabama and spent every waking non-school hour playing football, racking up both offensive and defensive MVP trophies despite his small size. He had discovered boxing at the age of eight, and didn’t lose a match until he was eleven. By the time he graduated high school, he was one of the highest-ranked amateurs in the country and earned a spot on the U.S. Olympic boxing team. The Los Angeles Games of 1984 provided the first opportunity for Evander to demonstrate his special brand of grace and poise on an international stage. After thoroughly decimating every opponent on his way to the semi-finals and establishing himself as his country’s surest bet for a gold medal, he was disqualified for a late punch. The stunned crowd was on the edge of riot over the patently unfair call, and it was only Evander’s calm demeanor and refusal to give open vent to his emotions that averted total chaos. Despite his disqualification, Evander still walked away with the Bronze medal and in a very emotional moment, was pulled up on to the Gold medal podium by the Yugoslavian Anton Josipović showing the utmost of respect for Holyfield and his knockdown of Kevin Barry in the semi-final match, when the disqualification occurred. After the Olympics, Evander turned Pro, winning his first two fights as a light heavyweight by decision. He knocked out his next two opponents in a grand total of three rounds and moved up to cruiserweight. His performance in that division, one weight class below heavyweight, would become the stuff of legend. It took him less than a year to win seven fights, six of them by early-round knockout, and earn the right to fight for a World Title. He successfully defended the title against Olympic Gold Medalist Henry Tillman, added the IBF belt a few months later, and then took the WBC Crown from Carlos DeLeon, to become the undisputed champion of the world. Evander’s domination of the cruiserweight division was so overwhelming —to this day he is still the only undefeated, undisputed cruiserweight champion—that his image now permanently adorns one of the championship belts. Evander then rocked the boxing world by winning his first six fights by knockout as a heavyweight, becoming the #1 contender for a world championship. In October of 1990, it took Evander only three rounds to knock out the man who knocked out Tyson, making him the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world. Desiring the Tyson matchup, Evander fought on, winning against the likes of former world champions George Foreman and Larry Holmes. Evander had the honor of carrying an Olympic torch into the stadium for the opening ceremonies for the Atlanta Olympics. Not only did he do that at the 1996 Games in Atlanta, but when he handed the torch to the great swimmer Janet Evans, she in turn handed it to another fighter, Muhammad Ali, who then lit the torch. Evander would go on to regain world titles twice more and become history’s only five-time World Champion. The latest came on April 10, 2010, when he beat Francois Botha to take the WBF crown, twenty-six years after his first professional bout. There’s way more to Evander than just being the 5 time World Heavyweight Boxing Champion. He made over $230 million in the ring and always worked on doing good with it, giving millions to the church and to various causes he supported, including the Evander Holyfield Foundation. To this day, Evander is a humanitarian, proud father and always takes time to encourage younger fighters with tips not only on how to fight, but how to conduct themselves as representatives of a sport, not always well-understood by the general public. Much has been made of his many children, but less well known, is that they grew up in his own home, where he could provide a stable, disciplined and loving family environment. ED COAN Edward “Ed” Ignatius Coan is an American powerlifter. He is widely regarded throughout the powerlifting world as the Greatest Powerlifter of all time. Coan has set over 71 world records in powerlifting. He became the lightest person to cross the 2,400 lb. barrier in the powerlifting total (a sum of three lifts: the deadlift, bench, and squat). He set an all-time powerlifting record total at 2,463 pounds, even though at the time he was not in the heaviest weight class. Coan’s best result in a drug tested international competition is 1,035 kg (2,282 lbs) in the 100 kg weight class at the 1994 IPF Senior World Championships.This at the time was a world record. Ed is a legend in the world of powerlifting and spends much of his time mentoring young lifters coming into the sport. Coan’s best single ply lifts: Squat – 1019 lbs (~462 kg) Bench press – 584 lbs (~265 kg) Deadlift – 901 lbs (~409 kg) [3] raw by today’s standards with only singlet and belt Total: 2504 lbs (1135.79 kg) LENDA MURRAY Lenda Murray is an 8 Time Ms Olympia Bodybuilding Champion. She entered the 1988 Michigan State Bodybuilding Championships and the Great Lake Championships capturing both titles. Adding victories at the NPC Junior Nationals and pro status at the IFBB North American Championships in 1989, Murray rocketed into national prominence. Murray overcame challenges from twenty-nine other world class bodybuilders at the Ms Olympia on Saturday, November 24, 1990 at the Beacon Theater in New York City and won her first World title. Lenda repeated the feat for 6 consecutive World titles and tied the record held by Cory Everson. Lenda retired from competitive bodybuilding for 5 years and returned to the stage in 2002 at the age of 40 and recaptured 2 more consecutive wins, breaking the record and reaching her goal as the best female bodybuilder in the world. She has appeared on Geraldo Rivera, CNN, Entertainment Tonight, and hosting ESPN’s Muscle Magazine, was featured weekly on Flex Magazine Workout Show on ESPN and commentated the USA and National Bodybuilding Championships on ESPN, as well as appearing on numerous issues of Muscle and Fitness, Flex, and Shape magazines. World-renowned photographer, Annie Leibovitz,photographed Lenda where she is featured in Annie’s book “WOMEN” and award winning portrait photographer Martin Schoeller’s features Lenda in his 2008 book “Female Bodybuilders”. She has appeared in glamour magazines such as Vanity Fair, Essence, Ebony, Allure, Mademoiselle and the famous Sports illustrated Swimsuit Edition. She has been featured in major newspapers such as USA Today, New York Times, Atlanta Constitutional, People and Rolling Stone Magazine. Lenda lives in California where she owns and operates, Operation Boot Camp and celebrated her 10thyear as an NPC promoter. Muscle and Fitness dubbed Lenda “the shape of things to come”. MICHAEL JAI WHITE Michael Jai White is an accomplished martial artist, holding seven different black belts: Shotokan, Tae Kwon Do, Kobudo, Goju Ryu with Master Eddie Morales,Tang Soo Do, Wushu and Kyokushin, with a specific focus in Kyokushin (although his style incorporates aspects of many different martial arts forms). White started martial arts training at the age of eight. He is a world reknowned movie and TV star with many exciting fight action, dramatic and comedy films to his credit. Michael’s career has evolved over the years and he has tremendous range as an actor and athlete. Expect big things from him in the future and already has the historical credit, as the first black actor in history to play the lead as a Superhero in the major motion picture-‘Spawn’ and countless other movies and TV appearances. He was chosen by Black Belt Magazine as the Martial Artist of the Year and considered by many to be one of the greatest living in the world today. His movie career not only has him as the star, but also Producer and Director. DON ‘THE DRAGON’ WILSON Widely regarded as America’s greatest kickboxing champion, Don Wilson, is perhaps better known outside of martial arts sports as the star of nearly 40 internationally-released action thriller cable-TV movies. Upcoming in 2015, “The Dragon” will star in THE MARTIAL ARTS KID opposite fellow International Sports Hall of Famer Cynthia Rothrock, and also will appear in THE SCORPION KING 4: QUEST FOR POWER. Don entered the international stage as the first Kung-Fu practitioner to win a world kickboxing title. His fighting nickname, “The Dragon,” comes from his White Dragon (Pa’i Lum) Kung-Fu style. Over the next decade and a half, he won 11 World Title belts in 4 weight divisions, for 5 sanctioning bodies (WKA, STAR, PKO, ISKA and IKF). Along the way, he defeated 13 other World Champions. Wilson headlined main event fight cards from Madison Square Garden (New York City), Caesar’s Palace (Las Vegas & Lake Tahoe), Korakuen Hall (Tokyo Dome), Queen Elizabeth Stadium (Hong Kong), Lumpinee Stadium (Bangkok), Verdun Auditorium (Montreal), Deutschlandehalle (Berlin) and MGM Grand (Las Vegas) as broadcast over NBC-TV, ESPN-TV, TSN-TV (Canada), Ashai-TV (Japan), TVB-TV (Hong Kong), Channel 8 (Thailand), FNN/SCORE-TV and Canal Plus (Europe). He amassed a total kickboxing record of 73-5-2, with 49 KOs, 7 by Kick-KO. His 61.2% knockout average remains slightly better than boxing’s “The Greatest” Muhammad Ali’s 60.7% average. By 2002, Wilson was entered into the GUINNESS BOOK OF RECORDS for winning the most Kickboxing World Titles, a feat as-yet unequalled. Following advice from Chuck Norris, “The Dragon” relocated to Hollywood where, among his early film roles, he appeared as John Cusack’s sparring partner in Columbia Pictures’ SAY ANYTHING (1989). He also trained Mr. Cusack in kickboxing for that film. Next, Wilson was hand-selected by renowned “King of the Bs” producer Roger Corman to star in eight of Concorde Pictures’ BLOODFIST film franchise. Subsequently, four Wilson actioners became HBO World Premieres, including RED SUN RISING (1994) – the highest Nielsen-rated HBO movie of that year (10.3 Nielsen, 15 share). He further made cameo appearances in Warner Brothers’ BATMAN FOREVER (1995) and Columbia Pictures’ STEALING HARVARD (2002), as well as starred in SYFY-TV’s THE LAST SENTINEL (2007). Don ‘The Dragon’ is one of the most liked and admired legends in the martial arts world.