If Errol Spence retired tomorrow, with his career, wins, and accomplishments, does he - after a waiting period - get accepted into Canastota, or does he lack the necessary resume to make it in?
I don't think he fully deserves it, but the hall has become such a joke that fighters worse than Spence have gotten in, merely due to their reputation. Spence was considered either the best or second best Welterweight, as well as a bubble top 5 P4P fighter, for years. Being that highly regarded for so long will leave an impact on people's minds. He'll get in.
At least Gatti had a solid argument for why he got in. It´s the hall of fame and he was famous. Several Fight Of the Year honors, multiple world titles and nothing but wars. He has a fan favorite and earned his spot in boxing history. Spence fought a few top names and immediately gets in? Laughable. *He fought 6 guys who were ranked in the top 10 at 147. By no means does he deserve to be in any hall of fame.
Wilder has only fought 2 top 10 ranked guys and practically 0 top guys, and he will almost certainly get in. There are literal all time greats in lower divisions like Horacio Accavallo that haven't gotten in because nobody knows who they are. It is laughable.
Not for me. He only campaigned in one division and left severe question marks as to his worth. He never faced Thurman, and he was absolutely smoked by Crawford. He also was losing handily to Brook until Brook gassed due to making weight. Can we definitely say Spence was ever the best WW in the world. We can argue it, for a time, but was he ever the best without question? For me he falls short.
I suppose I should tweak the question from does Errol get in (which he probably does just because he was popular), to does Errol deserve a spot in Canastota (which it's probable he doesn't but still an arguable case can be made)?
the more you look the more you notice it's about which year the candidate pool has selected. Mark Johnson got elected into the Hall, the same time as Tommy Hearns. probably not...personally. but could see how it comes to fruition. Joel Casamayor, Jorge Paez, Reggie Johnson will have more gravitas before him. but then again time makes things respectable. Politicians, ugly buildings and whores all get respectable if they last long enough. Herol Graham genuinely held in more high regard than most multi wieght champions...i would smile if he could be selected. don't think it rhymes with the halls ethics though.
If having wins over Chris Algieri, Kell Brooks, Shawn Porter, Mikey Garcia, Danny Garcia, and Yordenis Ugas is enough to put you in the IBHOF then that tells you a lot about the standards that they have now. It's a damn shame how many more worthy fighters are left out of the IBHOF, let alone the ballot.
Aye, but just trying to get it across. that yesterdays fans will be tomorrows fight critics. fighters have less fights on average so the 100-38-20 (23ko) entrant who won a flyweight title once in the 30's is almost in comparable to the 24-6 multi wieght champion. those names you said will be in high or at least 'higher' regard in the future. it has been and will forever be thus.
As a very big fan of Spence, I don't think he's done enough to get in. There's a number of guys who aren't in that were very popular in their time and did more and did more in multiple weight classes who aren't in. If he went up to JMW and established a lineage there or skipped JMW and hopped right up to MW and did some good work yeah.............