What do you think? Meldrick Taylor Michael Nunn Hector Camacho Sumbu Kalambay Donald Curry Marlon Starling Miguel Lora Hilario Zapata Julian Jackson Naseem Hamed Fernando Vargas Glen Johnson Arturo Gatti Pongsaklek Wonjongkam Nigel Benn Herol Graham Chris Eubank
The weakest of the bunch might be Gatti, let's see if I can make a case for him? Arturo "Thunder" Gatti retired with a record of 40 wins and 9 losses, with 31 wins by knockout. Losing that many fights in the modern era is difficult to overcome and he will never be listed as one of the ATGs. However it is the hall of FAME not the Hall of All Time Greatness, so let me make a case for him. Gatti is considered by many boxing experts and fans alike to be one of the most exciting boxers of his era. He has participated in Ring Magazine's "fight of the year" a total of four times. Every single guy with four or more appearances as Ring Magazines "fight of the year" are in the Hall (Basilio, Tunney, Foreman, Frazier, Louis, Schmeling and Ali) Gatti became world champion when he narrowly outpointed Tracy Harris Patterson and signed a multi-fight deal with HBO to fight on HBO Boxing. On January 24, 2004, Gatti recovering from a broken hand, scored a tenth round knock-down and defeated Gianluca Branco of Italy by a twelve round unanimous decision to win the vacant WBC junior welterweight title. He has the titles the exposure (HBO) the notoriety and the historic fights to legitimately be in the Hall in my opinion. Can anyone make a case for another fighter?
Kalambay for certain. He beat Barkley, Collins, McCallum, and Graham, all elite fighters. The wins over Robbie Sims and Dewitt help, as does the fact that his win over McCallum was more decisive than McCallum's win over him (for my money). Also, he was totally ducked which can help. Wongjonkam is a lock. He has the record for fastest kayo in his division, he has that rivalry with Naito and rivalries really help, especially when you have the edge in wins, and he beat Tuneco, Sosa, and Kameda, both known commodities. Throw in the seperate title reigns, the zillion plus defenses, and sheer longevity. He'll get in. Vargas will almost certainly get in, as much on popularity as anything else. He beat Campas, Marquez, Winky, and Quartey. Ray Joval and Castellejo both solid operators. I don't think he makes the cut for me, but he's better than McGuigan and Johansson, and by a whole lot. Gatti will get in. He shouldn't. But if he gets in then Vargas has too. Gatti never beat anyone as good as Vargas' four best victims. Usually he lost noncompetitively to those guys.
I think Nunn is a solid choice. He had extra-terrestrial skills despite his mental lapses and drug problems. He was an absolute animal when he turned up the juice, beating some really quality guys. He had a huge winning streak, got ducked by some big names, and he was well ahead against Toney. Jackson doesn't deserve to get in. He has the knockout artist appeal and a few decent scalps and a great one against Norris, but all of his loses were so devastating. That keeps him out. Glen Johnson will get in. He was fighter of the year and to my knowledge every fighter except one or two has gotten into the IBHOF five years after their retirement. Plus he fought EVERYONE. He has tons of loses but a half dozen of those were blatant robberies, ditto for his draws. And his win ledger includes Jones, Tarver, Harding, Montell Griffith, and Woods. He also beat fringe top 10 guys like Allen Green, George Khalid Jones, Richard Hall, Hugho Pineda, Yusaf Mack, Daniel Judah, and Thomas Ulrich. That's a very, very solid resume for induction. Throw in his popularity and the sympathy factor and he's close to being a lock. Meldrick Taylor-No. Fastest hands ever in my book and all the heart in the world. The wins over McGirt and Davis are nice. A win over Chavez would have been even nicer. But even then his fourth best win would have been over Courtney Hooper. Even if you change the Chavez L to a W that's not enough.
Camacho will be deservedly inducted. Limon, Ramirez, Boza-Edwards, Haugen, Pazienza, Rosario, Howard Davis Jr, Mancini are good enough names for me. Also, he was ducked by Chacon, who he would have spanked. He gets novelty points for beating Ray and Duran, plus notching more than seventy five wins, which almost never happens anymore. I'm surprised Curry hasn't been inducted frankly. Like Johnson he was fighter of the year. Unlike Johnson he was the top pound for pound fighter for a spell, a top five pound for pounder for a longer spell. He was frightening to watch in his prime. The brevity of his prime holds him back as do the upsets to Honeygan and Jaquot and the violent thrashings to Nunn and Norris. Still, he'd get my vote. He was a true elite and a real badass. Hamed is hard to place. On one hand he notched like 16 defenses of assorted title belts. And he beat some live opposition in Robinson, Medina, Soto, Bungu, McCoullough, Vasquez, Kelley, and Tom Johnson. But he was dominated by Barrera. And his sheer unlikeability costs him points with voters. Even when you factor that out he wouldn't get my ballot.
Camacho, and Gatti. While Gatti wasn't a great fighter, he was in many memorable matches that enhanced boxing's reputation. As such, I think he belongs.
Meldrick Taylor - no Michael Nunn - No Hector Camacho - No Sumbu Kalambay - Yes Donald Curry - Yes Miguel Lora - Yes Hilario Zapata - Yes Julian Jackson - No Naseem Hamed - No Fernando Vargas - No Glen Johnson - No Arturo Gatti - No Pongsaklek Wonjongkam - Yes
Camacho stands out my girthy balls. He was an overhyped fighter his entire career and an ordinary one for more than half of it. Very talented for brief period of time, but so have plenty of others been and with more complete games than him.
