Of course he is worthy WBO WBA IBF LHW champ, beat top names, WBO CW champ, defended over 20 times. All these fools that say WBO is worthless, must be daft because its the fights that count, not the belts and DM fought a wealth of good fighters and wasnt just a WBO champ. Definately worthy in my opinion,
Forgetting about the legitimacy (or otherwise) of the titles he held, he had a lengthy unbeaten streak, with a career-defining win over Hill. In addition, he beat Griffin and Rocchigiani, and some decent fighters like Barber, Hall, Thadzi and Harmon. He beat his fair share of dustbins along the way, but that shouldn't override his big wins. I wasn't a fan of his style, and wherever you place the blame it was ridiculous that he didn't fight Jones. He got a gift in the first Rocky fight, and the Griffin stoppage was very questionable. All that said though, he achieved far more than most, and like many German-based fighters doesn't get the credit he deserves in some quarters.
such a long run going undefeated and he boxed good guys, no atg, but solid opposition, was a beast in his prime. definitly hof worthy.
He won lineal title and lost it instantly due to politics, not inside the ring. He compiled quite a number of defences (many opponents common with RJJ by the way), and while WBO was probably the weakest of big 4 at the beginning of his reign, he was one of the fighters who gave it more credibility. Even if the "efforts" of other 3 organization also contributed to that significantly. True, he ducked RJJ (looks like they both were not in hurry to fight each other), but even fighters who lost to RJJ are considered ATG (Hopkins, Toney)... and now we are talking just about HOF - so I do not have much problems with that (even with the night off against Rocchigiani 1)
The ESB rule is that every HoF candidate is judged by the Barry McGuigan standard, and by the McGuigan rule he's a lock (and then some).
No he fought bums in europe his entire career. He pure sucks and would have lost if he would have ever stepped it up.
Not unless he buys a ticket like everyone. Actually I would put him on there for ducking Roy Jones JR. That's his only claim to fame