Let's fast forward five years, and unpack the drama that is to be the 2023 IBHOF ballot...

Here's the conundrum:

• Only three fighters in the "modern" category are enshrined per class.
• Fighters are eligible after having not fought for five complete calendar years - so an altogether absence from the prize ring in 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022 in their entirety would make 2023 the 1st year of eligibility for somebody that competed in 2017.
• Floyd Mayweather, Jr. is ostensibly retired once and for all, having reached a nice round 50-0 mark and crossing the finish line with a light jog (Berto & McGregor being far from his biggest challenges), so unlike previous "retirements" most consider this one to be real & final - he last fought in 2017 with no plans to return.
• Andre Ward walked away from the sport on top, having beaten his nearest peer twice (albeit with some measure of controversy on both occasions) and cleared out the competition in 2 weight divisions, and publicly stating he felt he had nothing more to prove - he last fought in 2017 with no plans to return.
• Wladimir Klitschko reneged on rematch negotiations with Anthony Joshua, deciding that discretion was indeed the better part of valour, perhaps realizing he was destined for another L if he persisted, and wishing to keep his current record & legacy intact as-is - he last fought in 2017 with no plans to return.
• Miguel Cotto went out, like Klitschko, swinging madly but futilely in a loss, although to a lesser p4p caliber of fighter (all due respect to Sadam Ali, but prime Cotto wipes the canvas with him, whereas AJ is probably competitive with any version of Klitschko) - he last fought in 2017 with no plans to return.

1+1+1+1 cannot = 3.

Somebody's left out in the cold.

Thankfully, stubborn Filipino congressman Emanuel Dapidran Pacquiao has made everybody's life easier by letting Bob Arum pimp him out at least another night or two, removing himself from the equation where he surely would have complicated matters even further.


My initial thoughts on this, sketched together from the "Miguel Cotto Appreciation Thread" in the Classic Forum:

...then again this is a Hall that includes Gatti and Stallone, with an emphasis on how beloved/moneymaking/celebrated a personage is, by which metric Cotto absolutely demolishes Ward. Then again, Ward never came even close to losing to mediocrities like Margarito or Ali (mitigated as the former may be due to plaster allegations that can never be proven, and the latter by Cotto being long in the chompers and seven lbs above the optimal weight of his pinnacle).

...and now that I'm thinking about it, you have Kazuto Ioka retiring last month as well, insinuating himself into the conversation. His case is right up there with the others mentioned above. Three division champion, just one career defeat by split decision to a widely avoided top-class "who needs 'em" spoiler, and squeezed a whopping 15 world title fights into a period of just over six years, with ⅔ of his entire pro career being world title fights and with a 14-1 (9) record in them. Hell yeah he belongs in that conversation. Which only makes things more frustrating!!

 

Note: they wouldn't bump anyone in the OP from consideration anyway, but just to nip speculation about their candidacies in the bud, a reminder:

Timothy Bradley Jr. & Takashi Uchiyama both respectively announced their retirements in 2017, but they both competed for the last time in 2016, meaning they will be first eligible on the ballot in 2022. Of course, if either of them doesn't make it, they will be left hanging as strong 'carryover' nominations for the following class, but in either case will have to wait it out until 2024 (which can safely be assumed to already have one spot reserved for Manny Pacquiao, unless he boxes on into 2019 or beyond...)

 

Come on dude, stop it. Pacquiao has a greater career than everybody in the presumptive 2023 class except his arch-nemesis PBF. The pair of them stand on a pedestal way up on Mount Olympus, looking down upon those demigods.

 

As much as I love both Orlando Salido and Takashi Miura, neither action hero stands a reasonable chance of affecting the outcomes here, even though both will technically become eligible in 2023 as well.

 

Agreed. I only included in the poll every possible permutation as a polite formality, with the understanding that naught but votes for the options including Mayweather to be taken seriously. Of course some trolling comedians will click on those just for the lol's, but I think we all know enough to just ignore them and recalculate the poll totals with their subtraction.

 

Or he could do the gentlemanly thing and have a farewell bout against, say, Tommy Oosthuizen (somebody halfway respectable, but...safe) in 2018, so as to recuse himself from any conflict versus Cotto...

 

It is, and I very much disagree with the idea of altering that blanket policy. Otherwise everybody that is a fan of a "bubble" candidate that got left out could argue "well in my guy's case, he deserves the special exemption.."

Fairest thing is just leave it at a hard unchanging 3, with the understanding that some eligibility fields on some years are going to be deeper than others, and force the voting body to have to make some tough choices once in a while.