An appreciation thread for those guys that you loved that didn't accomplish enough to get in. I'll give you two of mine. Who do you have? 1. Vassily Jirov. Southpaw swarmer that won a gold medal, won a belt at Cruiserweight, engaged in a classic fight in defense of his title and moved up to heavyweight and had some fun fights. A never say die fighter that always gave everything he had. One of true great body punchers of the sport. 2. Ike Quartey. Phenomenal fighter during a great era of welterweights. One of the best jabs boxing history lead him to a title at 147. Came out on the losing end in bigtime fights to Oscar (questionable) and Fernando and was flat out robbed against Vernon Forrest. Long layoffs really hurt him.
Ernesto Marcel. He deserves HOF. Amazing movement. Wins over Arguello, Shibata etc. Great bout with Duran as a young man. Very pleasing to watch. True Panamanian slickness.
Good shout on Jirov. Deserves to be admire for the Toney and Moorer wars. Never in a boring fight if he could help it. Mickey Ward, Emmanuel Augustus, Rigo, Ray Olivera and most of the early 90's middleweights.
Dillian Whyte, Whyte probably won't make it in. Unless he KOs all of the best competition in the division. Rigondeaux? I love how he fights and him trash talking in Spanish is **** funny but has he done enough to get in? Beterbeiv, he definitely hasn't done enough this moment to get in, he might have by the end of his career but not right now As for non active guys, Mike McTigue, decent pre title reign, beat Loughran, Zulu kid (3 times), Jackie Clark and a slew of other contenders. He also beat Tiger Flowers but Boxrec's notes say it has a reputation of one the worst decisions ever. Michael Moorer doesn't seem to be in, he had a scary reign as IBF LHW champ and moved up to get wins over Holyfield, Cooper and Jirov. He was in memorable fights with lots of guys and is probably only kept back by the Foreman fight. Michael Nunn, good résumé, beating Kalambay, Curry, Barkley, Corboda twice and moving up multiple weights. He also gave a very good account of himself against ATG James Toney He's definitely held himself back by going to prison.
First off, pure accomplishments are not the only factor in admission. Nunn should already be in. One guy I loved who will not get in is Frankie Randall. He wasted too much of his prime years and while he had an exttemely high ceiling, he stayed at his peak only about a year after the upset of JC Chavez.