Just a little piece of history: On August 23, 1980 the first 16 boxers were inducted into the new World Boxing Hall of Fame at their inaugural "Banquet of Champions" ceremony, which took place at the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim, California. A 44-man selection committee had been put together, to decide which boxers would be worthy of this honour. Each member could vote for up to 25 former boxers (retired for at least 5 years) - and if your name was on at least 70% of the ballots, you would be inducted that first year. When all the votes were in, the list of those who made the cut looked like this: 43 - Henry Armstrong 43 - Jack Dempsey 42 - Joe Louis 41 - Mickey Walker 39 - Harry Greb 39 - Benny Leonard 39 - Jimmy McLarnin 37 - Gene Tunney 36 - Stanley Ketchel 35 - Jack Johnson 33 - Bob Fitzsimmons 33 - James J. Jeffries 31 - Joe Gans 31 - Archie Moore 30 - Rocky Marciano 28 - James J. Corbett Others who received votes, but not enough for induction: 26 - Willie Pep 25 - Tony Canzoneri 20 - Johnny Kilbane 20 - John L. Sullivan 19 - Abe Attell 19 - Manuel Ortiz 18 - Fidel LaBarba 18 - Battling Nelson 18 - Tommy Ryan 17 - Sam Langford 15 - Ray Robinson 15 - Jack Root 14 - Willie Ritchie 11 - Tony Zale 10 - Tommy Loughran 8 - Georges Carpentier 7 - Billy Conn 7 - Sandy Saddler 6 - Ezzard Charles 6 - Young Corbett III 5 - Pancho Villa 5 - Ad Wolgast 4 - Jackie Fields 4 - Max Schmeling 4 - Jersey Joe Walcott 2 - Maxie Rosenbloom 2 - Jess Willard Thoughts?
I'll say it again. The list shows that this "committee" mostly knew about old-timers from poorly-researched secondary sources. Their opinion isn't worth anything.
They certainly didn't get off the ground very well, and their reputation never really recovered. They failed to supplant the Ring BHOF, then instantly got overrun by the IBHOF in 1990. It is indeed "Just a This content is protected piece of history." "Criticism is praise misphrased." When a bad induction enters the IBHOF, we slam it. Such an induction into the WBHF is scarcely cared about. Nearly a quarter century after passing on, the Ring BHOF still carries more weight.
Well, I still don't understand how Jersey Joe Walcott got inducted into The Ring's hall before Ezzard Charles. Charles was clearly a better boxer (head to head) and had by far better resume (one of the best in history).
WBHOF isn't the most credible but I like that they pay tribute to the more obscure and forgotten fighters of the past and they supposedly have great events where old fighters can meet the fans.
