Orlando Salido - Hall of Fame worthy? Yes or No

Whoever sad it's flat-out about wins and losses? Isolating one factor or aspect from the whole picture and defaulting someone in on that alone is bad form. Look, if you think he deserves to get in, that's fine. I don't think he should, but neither of us are right or wrong. But make you're judgement on the whole picture.

There aren't many fighters I've enjoyed watching in the last 20 years than Orlando Salido. I admire and respect him as a fighter immensely. Every time he entered the ring, he BROUGHT it. He ALWAYS came to fight, and he always did what he had to to be competitive, even if it meant bending or breaking the rules. To me, those are extremely admirable characteristics, and I really respect him for that. He got into a TON of wars and his fights were almost always very exciting and entertaining, but I'm sorry, those don't get you into the "truly elite" crowd in my book.

 

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Blood and guts and he ducked no man. Made a lot of the games best look like frightened children.

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Look, like I said, neither answer is right or wrong, and even though I don't agree with it, I CAN see the argument for him and I like and respect him enough as a fighter to roll with it either way. We aren't seeing eye to eye here because our definition of "truly elite" is so far off. What does the Hall Of Fame mean to you? What is YOUR definition of a HOF level or worthy boxer and what standard do you set for the club? Impact on the sport and official professional record are two factors that play into the whole, and they shouldn't be ignored or left out, but to me, there are far more prominent factors than those to take into consideration. Quantify and define the boxer as best you can, that's all any of us can do. What was he as a boxer? What does the eye test tell you? What skills/how skilled was he? How did he win and how did he lose, and to whom? What did he do on his biggest stages? I could be here for an hour doing this so I'm all set.

If you think he should be in, fine. That's your definition and standard of "truly elite" though, not mine.

 

Despite the excitement factor, I have to respectfully disagree. He lost decisively to all the HOFers he fought. Plus he lost TWICE to Ivan Robinson, by TKO to Angel Manfredy, and required a trilogy to get the better of Mickey Ward. Ward was an honest fighter, but let’s face it. If Mark Wahlburg grew up in Texas instead of Massachusetts, there’d be no movie (The Fighter) and a lot less people would care about a Gatti and/or award.

 

I gotta go to bed soon and have to be up for work at 6, so I'm pretty screwed. I'm simple as ****, and questions as obscure as the original post tax the **** out of my brain to an extent none of you smart people will ever understand.

For me, my standard and definition of HOF boxers mostly comes down to who shined the brightest on the biggest stages against the best opposition consistently for an extended period of time, and who's boxing skill and ability truly set them apart from the rest if they could properly and consistently apply it for a long time. I LOVE Gatti and Salido as fighters, and Mickey Ward is one of my favorite fighters of all time, if not my favorite. But in my eyes, they aren't HOF boxers. FMJ, Pac, JMM, B-Hop - they are HOF to me. Even though I like Gatti, Salido, and Ward more than those guys as fighters, and even though I enjoyed watching their fights more, they aren't in that club and there is nothing wrong with that. Even though I wouldn't put them in the HOF, I'm not saying they are less of fighters than HOF'ers, just different. HOF boxers, their skills pay the bills. Guys like Gatti, Ward, and Salido - their toughness, will to win, drive, desire, and other intangibles are what payed the bills. I've boxed for many years, and have nothing but respect for anyone who boxes at the professional level, I'm not saying one group is better than the other, they're just different.

For the record, I respect and admire the group of fighters like Gatti, Ward, and Salido more than any other group of fighters. They did more with less for longer than most.

 

Salido was a dirty fighter, but he fought clean compared to SOB Ward! At least he fought hard, had some real wars, esp. with Lopez.....................but HOF? Not really.................