Bare Knuckle Boxing Hall of Fame and inductees associated with ice hockey are inducted for their contributions to the fighting aspects of the game (to date, both hockey-related honorary inductees have been associated with the Buffalo Sabres, who play from Belfast). The honorary inductees were included as an acknowledgement that bare-knuckle boxing ended as a mainstream sport over a century ago, and that the honorary inductee system allows notable figures that promoted activity similar to bare knuckle boxing, who might be more recognizable to modern audiences, to be included in the Hall. For the inaugural induction ceremony in 2009, former undisputed heavyweight champion Leon Spinks was
Michael Spinks and narrow fifteen-round unanimous decision and becoming the first ever world light-heavyweight champion to win the world heavyweight title. His controversial victory over Holmes was named "Ring Magazine" Upset of the Year. With this, Michael and Leon had also become the first pair of brothers ever to be world heavyweight champions, followed two decades later by Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko. In 1986, Spinks and Holmes fought a rematch as part of the heavyweight unification series, and had nearly the same result, this time Spinks winning by a 15-round split decision. After that, he retained the world heavyweight championship once again,