Is Arturo Gatti Hall Of Fame Worthy?

some fighters transcend the sport without being great
thats what gatti did

 

He gave way too much to the sport to NOT be in there.

It'd be a god damn crime if he wasn't.

 

Tough call.

Gatti doesn't have the one win over a great opponent to ensure entry, nor was he particularly competitive in his two fights against elite, ATG caliber opponents. That said, he did defeat a number of good solid opponents like Ruelas, Patterson, Leija, and Dorin, and he was involved in a FOTY four times. So, it wasn't just that he was exciting...he was consistently exciting for a long period of time. That's essentially the reason why Graziano got in, so it's not like the IBHOF is really making an exception just for Gatti's sake.

Anyway, he is most certainly getting in at some point...so the debate is probably academic.

 

Graziano at least holds a win over tony zale, a TKO actually, who is 100x the fighter of Ward. In fact most say SRR ducked tony zale. Also a win over al "bummy" davis who was a good fighter. Yeah SRR destroyed him but hey at least he knocked him down first

 

Zale, while a terrific middleweight, probably wouldn't have reigned quite as long had he faced guys like SRR or LaMotta when he was champ. But once he unified the 160lb championship, he was content to fight non-title fights before heading off to war, When he did defend against Graziano, he was well past it, and still managed to defeat him two out of three. You put Graziano in against Zale during the Man of Steel's prime, then chances are Rocky gets dispensed with without too much difficulty.

Don't get me wrong...Graziano was a good fighter and a hard, hard puncher. But coming up, he made a name for himself by fighting smaller guys like Davis, Servo and Cochrane. I'll admit that he went on a nice run to secure a crack at SRR, and he did score a flash kd before getting blasted out in the same round.

Still, it can't be denied that his induction into the HOF is largely the result of his popularity, rather than his accomplishments. If/when Gatti gets in, it'll be because he was a guy that everyone wanted to see when he fought, rather than because of his in-ring accomplishments. There are fighters who probably deserve to be inducted far sooner than Thunder- but that's something that could probably be said of Graziano, Johanssen, MacGuigan and a few others. But if Thunder does get in, I don't think it's cause for rioting, in much the same way that Graziano's rioting wasn't cause for rioting either.

 

There was a similar thread for Hatton and nearly everyone from the states said hell no, so how come most are saying yes for Gatti. The two guys are pretty similar accomplishment, entertainment and following wise.

 

yep agreed. he had bags of that.

 

Ya, from what people tell me, it is indeed a bit ****.

I'm not a huge fan of the IBHOF by any means, but if people are going to discuss whether Fighter A is worthy of induction, they could at least familiarise themselves with how that organisation rates "worthiness".

 

It's the "Hall of Fame" not "Hall of Achievement". Guys who transcend the sport, regardless of how good they are, deserve a placement in the Hall of Fame because of the attention they bring. It's not all about stats and records when it comes to a HoF.

 

They are, and Hatton's got a victory over a HOF caliber opponent to bolster his case.

 

I think it's a reasonable comparison, and there are better fighters than Graziano who have not been inducted. The difference to me is that you can at least make an argument for Graziano based on in-ring accomplishments. He beat a great champion in Zale, lineal champions Cochrane and Servo, and only lost to Robinson and Zale in his prime. If you overlook the colour bar and his weight advantages in some of his biggest wins, it kinda looks like a HOF resume. Sort of.

Gatti doesn't have any wins over HOF fighters, and if you ignore alphabet bull**** he's essentially a perennial top 5/10 guy. I don't think there's even an argument that he has a HOF resume.

Yup

 

this is why the HOF is a joke....hell why not put Naseem Hamed in ..i mean with all the light shows and stuff...should be a given :roll:

 

I don't think he deserves to be in the HOF but I would bet my last dime he will be in it.

It does not take much to be in the HOF, he is american with large following. There are more accomplished fighter and more talented fighter than gatti who would not be in the HOF because they are not USAn.

 

A HOF should be reserved for the truly elite of any sport. Apparently in boxing this is'nt the case.
The corruption that is ingrained in the fabric of the sport of boxing runs right through their HOF. Because of it, Arturo Gatti has a good chance of entering it.