Yeah but Smoger was a good referee who wasn't corrupt Bayless is talked about for all the wrong reasons.
I agree Smoger was a better ref. Bayless had some bad nights at the office but I'm not willing to go as far as saying he was definitely corrupt. Plenty of good nights at the office too, however. Again, regardless of how we feel about his officiating and character - he's a meme ref in the internet era. Of course he's getting in the HOF.
Dunno why DM isn't in yet.. even Virgil Hill is.. he's one of the most overlooked European Fighters of the past 30 years. Beat the same LHW opposition as the great RJJ .. Hall, Griffin, Hill etc..
The thing which really bugs me about Paz getting in, is that not only is his resume paper thin, but he was never even involved in any ATG great fights. Say what you will about Gatti's record, but he has a number of fights which rank among some of the best ever and did a tremendous job of raising boxing's profile at the time with his all-action style. Paz doesn't have that all. He was exciting, sure, but his career was all higgledy-piggeldy and disjointed and he never had a standout performance or action fight. I mean, Paz was going life and death with an ancient, fat Duran, and still managed to lose. He was also very clearly juicing for most of his career. Were it not for his broken neck and his macho caricature, I highly doubt he would be remembered much today.
Virgil Hill - inducted 2013, fought in 2015 RJJ - inducted 2022, fought in 2023 Mike Tyson - inducted 2011, fought in 2024 SRL - inducted 1997, fought Camacho that same year Pac and Ward if they return will join a short list.
The Pazienza pick has me feeling like many of us do with elder members of congress or parliament. I think it's time to retire for a good number of these guys. Pazienza might be the worst pick ever and that's a low bar to clear. The guy needed three fights to barely make it past Haugen (Paz arguably lost two of the three). Fighters with far more credible in-ring credentials have to take a back seat to stories.
Totally missed out on seeing Rodrigo Valdez being inducted under the Old Timer category. Glad to see a very underappreciated fighter finally getting inducted. He was a great fighter who was a dangerous puncher, managed to drop the great Carlo Monzon and was the only one to stop the granite chinned Bennie Briscoe. This content is protected
Pac was obviously going to go on the first ballot. Nunn was a borderline pick for me. In all honesty, I think Valdez might be, too. The Paz induction is mystifying and definitely brings down the overall quality of the class by a fair bit, imo.
It may be weak due Paz induction but Michael Nunn is a guy should have been inducted a long time ago. If not for running into a prime James Toney his MW reign may have been much longer. I feel that Dariusz Michalczewski or Vazquez should have gotten in over him.
Pacquiao is in the ATG hall of fame, he was a hall of famer already before he retired the skeleton of the once great De La Hoya.