Excellent choice, also got a gift against Sturm, but being the figure head of GoldenBoy really is the icing on the cake.
I can confirm that 94 different people have been nominated with over 250 votes at least between them. Probably more towards the 350 mark and that's not including the votes after inductees reach the 5 mark.
Havent read all of the thread but has Steve 'Superbad' Barnes got a mention yet? Wasnt it him and his dad giving it the big I am after one fight, then he lost and was never heard from again cocky little ****
I am genuinely ashamed to say I have also read that, it may as well have been written in crayon! The worst thing about that book was that in 100 pages it told you absolutely nothing you didn't already know about him. He glossed over anything remotely personal about himself other than that he likes oasis, a pint, and Man City. It would be a far better read if he wrote it now, after a 3 year drugs and booze bender and all that happened in between plus his come back fight. I think the moral of the story is that boxers in general make for pretty boring life stories. Basically "I was a child, I learned to box, spent all my life training, beat this guy, now happily married, the end" is usually about the extent of it. Johnny Tapia's or Mike Tysons would be a good read but less so for boxing reasons!
Duran's is pretty epic too. I went to Panama last year and spent a few days in Panama City, I visited the statue of him there but I was surprised to see how small it was, and it was just in the middle of a road too not in a square or anything! A taxi driver then told me he had a Duran restaurant up the road where he was often found at the bar so I spent about 7 hours in there getting hammered hoping he'd turn up but he never did! Gutted I didn't get to meet him but there's always next time. His auto bio is interesting, he was a street urchin that was boxing in the gyms there from age 7 when he weighed only about 4.5 stone!
Cheers Bill:good Any chance we can throw Aaron Ramsey in there? I know he has nothing to do with boxing, but he is one smug *****, think he's world class, he's useless. Bit out there but worth a shout I think
Surely David Haye's PA and part time boxer George Groves should be in for being smug, shite and ginger! Does that count as three votes?
what's the Duran one called mate? Only saw one on Amazon, and I don't think it was an autobiography, but a biography.
De La Hoya deserves to go in for this alone. This content is protected Also the fact that he's one of the worst snake promoters in the sport too.
Yeah I think that's the one I read I don't think it's by the man himself it's called "Hands of Stone" but still a good read with loads of quotes and stuff. He grew up in the slums properly, and because the americans have always had a massive interest in Panama due to the canal there has always been loads of yanks and american influence over there. Their currency is american dollars, so for him to go over to the states and beat Sugar Ray was absolutely huge to the locals, although they turned on him later in his career he won them back over!