Just announced--Jones Jr, Toney and Cotto are 2022 hall of fame bound

Andre Ward might have had the easiest and least path of resistance to the HOF. It's amazing the props he gets.... as if he cleaned out divisions. He didn't...

 

Bradley went through hell for sure. Fighting late prime Pacquiao, Provodnikov, and JMM right in a row?

I figured he was a shoe-in.

 

Agree he was good don't get me wrong but he had the rub of the green on every occasion and used Hopkins tactics when things weren't going his way.. There just weren't that many other fighters to market at the time as well.

Oh and I think he was a weight bully at SMW. Froch is a decent size at SMW and Ward looked a lot thicker and was bullying Froch until he started gassing.

 

Obviously all deserving. Congratulations to all.

 

Well deserved for Roy. James and Miguel.

All three had some great fights.

Cheers fellas.

 

Much respect.

 

For me, the IBHOF should be confined to bona fide greats. I think Jones and Toney fit that bill, though I understand if someone wanted to bypass them for PED reasons. I think that's a can of worms in boxing, however. Cotto, on the other hand, was very good, not great. He had a well-rounded skill set, fought a lot of the top dogs, and scored some solid wins. But his credentials are wildly overblown because of the era he fought in and because he benefited greatly from Top Rank's leverage. In a bygone era he would have been a longtime top-10 guy who just couldn't make the cut against the best. Today, he's a four-weight "champion".

 

Cotto is one of my all time favorites. Such a skilled guy who always put on a show. So glad he got in.

 

I think there's worse than Cotto that are already in there, but on the whole I agree with you, particularly around the idea of the HOF being for the creme de la creme. The problem though is with the system, not Cotto.

 

Thing about the IBHOF is that there are now some longtime top 10 contenders who never won a title who are now in the IBHOF (Pedro Montanez, for example). Moreover, the IBHOF has always inducted guys like Graziano largely due to their popularity.

Cotto's not ATG, but when taking a look at many of the other names that have been inducted, I'd say he belongs in their company...and that makes him a worthy HOF inductee, in my eyes.