Vinnie Paz is a HOFer now... But Michalczewski still isn't!

If there's something worse than a crackpot, Paz was it.

 

The geographic location wasn't the issue it was the quality Wilders in the same boat in terms of having a long reign against questionable competition and he gets called out on it regularly. With Mich theres the added wrinkles of the WBO not being considered a major organization and 10 of his defenses predating his lineal title fight with Virgil Hill.

Once he won the lineal title Michalczewski was fighting a much lower caliber of opponent compared to RJJ especially in the beginning. His competition improved a lot in his last 6 fights but if you look at his resume before that the issue is clear.

Anyhow he should be in the HOF just like with Wilder or Vitali but when people bring up the large number of title defenses they are going to roll their eyes. And given that Michalczewski has the most title official defenses in the history of his division its going to get brought up a lot.

 

If I agreed with you about the lineage Michalczewski has 10 WBO defenses before Virgil Hill. This is still the reason he has the record for most LHW defenses. I don't really care about unification but Michalczewski unified 3 belts for one fight.

Michalczewskis opponents dramatically improved in his final fights after he'd held his lineal claim for 4 and a half years. I have him beating 8 LHW title contenders and Wilder beating 6 HW ones and if we take out rematches its 6-5. Half of Wilders came pre title though. In my book Michalczewski has 7 "real" title defenses while Wilders got 4 counting the Fury draw. Michalczewski has 14-24 official defenses though and Wilder has 10.

There was no rightful champ at HW for much of Wilders reign. Fury did not return until after Wilder fought Ortiz then Fury fought 2 10 rounders against Seferi and Schwarz.There was no RJJ figure fighting much better competition. Wilder was in the same boat with AJ and Fury. Wilder wasn't the "guy" but he also wasn't clearly not "the guy".

Another factor in Michalczewskis lineage not being recognized is it'd have to be coupled with Erdeis reign. While the WBO has become a major title if we look at the WBO solely on the merits in this weight class it really isn't a major standalone title until a few years ago if it ever became one.

 

Craziness that Paz got in, but they induct anyone in there it seems. Paz was gutsy, tough, always in shape, and I give him credit for coming back after a car wreck, but he's not a hall of famer. Paz never beat an A level opponent in his entire career.

 

If Fury never returned IMO Wilder v Ortiz would have made more sense as the start of new lineage than AJ v Parker.

 

dariusz was fantastic, i was watching his fights today. surely he'll get it at some point..