Premature coronation: might it be that *none* of the lightweight "four kings" end up HOF worthy?

Genuine. Well written, IB .

 

There's a reason I didn't vote for any of them.

The premise of this thread wasn't exactly revelatory. None of these guys has got it like that or has ever given us any real reason to assume they did. Even Teófimo's big moment failed to greatly impress me personally, since I never considered Lomachenko to be anything like an unstoppable force in the bigger scheme of things (nor did I consider the Ukrainian's body of work, while certainly respectable, tantamount to a murderers' row*).

As I said a few pages back;

*Granted, Lomachenko's route to multi-weight title status was more honest than most in the twenty-first century, but that's not saying nearly enough to bestow ATG honors upon it, regardless of how few fights he did it in. He did, after all, enter the paid ranks having trained like a professional for years as an adult male, thanks to the sponsorships and government funding his status as a standout amateur afforded him, so the fast track he took shouldn't be received as if he'd turned over while still a teenager and blown through multiple divisions in fifteen or so fights by the time he hit 23, 24. I'd give far greater credit, for example, to a young Fernando Vargas scalping Campas and Quartey (yes, that was a legitimate victory, even if the one over Wright was questionable) and giving a prime Trinidad a furious run for his money before he'd even entered the years that should've represented his physical prime, and yet nobody touts Vargas for greatness (which is fine enough by me).

 

I dunno. I realise that Davis has become something of a mainstream attraction, but I don't give much consideration to chatter among the casual followings that make mainstream attractions of guys. Beyond that, I figured any 'Tank = heir apparent' sentiment among perennial followers of the sport would be a demographic thing (the easily dismissable ravings of the LDBC and so on).

Granted, I do very little cruising for fan opinion outside of this forum anymore.

 

It's hilarious to me

 

Man, I'd love to see Edwin Valero come back from the grave and ruin this bunch of mediocre clowns one by one.

 

The word challenged stuck out as I read this. And then Gervonta's ugly ass dome faded into view.

 

As scintillating a matchup that the inevitable Pac showdown was, what makes you think he was the real deal? He had DeMarco as his lone notable scalp.

 

Eye test primarily. I wasn't on these pages back then, but, based on a stack of gym footage I'd seen of Valero, I credited him with a skillset that wasn't being anywhere near fully represented by his summary destructions of C and D opposition, but which I expected would be uncovered more and more as the quality of opposition increased. The DeMarco performance was a very clear step in that direction, then the plug was unfortunately pulled.

Even if one believes he wouldn't have beaten Pacquiao, the four flops are a long way from the bar that Manny sets.

 

In reality, Manny would have opened up his skull again and peeled his face back...

But the build up would have been insane with people wondering if Pac could have stopped his KO streak. That would have been the entire story and promotion.

 

Bump.

So, let's see where these four stand now.

* Until last night, I probably would have scoffed at the idea of Teo Lopez making the HOF. I thought he lost to Martin, and hadn't really looked good since his fight with Lomachenko. But after last night, he's is now a two division lineal champion with clear wins over two highly regarded p4p caliber guys in Tayor and Loma. Taylor may have been inactive and was coming off a poor performance against Catterall (I thought Jack clearly won, tbh), but the fact is Lopez was the betting underdog and very few observers gave him a shot at winning. But, he did. He produced a very good performance and has now probably earned himself eventual entry regardless of what he does or doesn't do going forward. He's definitely going to be on the ballot now, and deservedly so.

* Devin Haney is now undisputed at 135lbs, and has clear wins over legit contenders in Linares and Jojo Diaz, two wins in enemy territory against Kambosos, and a disputed win over the still viable Vasyl Lomachenko. I personally called the Lomachenko fight a draw and loved the fight itself, so a successfual defence in a terrific fight bolsters Devin's HOF case, imo. If he doesn't do anything else, he's probably earned a place on the ballot regardless of what he does going forward. May need one more clear win over a top guy in order to guaruntee induction.

* Gervonta Davis is an interesting case for me in that I think a lot of posters on this site underrate his body of work prior to his most recent fight, but overrate the significance of that victory over Kingry. I still like those wins over Pedraza, LSC, Barrios, Cruz, and Hector Garcia, and while Rolly Romero isn't great or anything that win allowed us to see how he'd fare against a guy with real power. That said, his highest profile win against Kingry was against one of his least accomplished opponents at world class level; it was a terrific performance but I'm not sure just how much it adds to his legacy. Not too much change in how I perceive him right now; Tank's built a solid foundation, but still needs a win over an established top level guy to secure entry. I imagine he'll end up on the ballot based on what he's done so far, though.

* As for Kingry???

He's got some tools to work with, but he needs some significant refinement before I can seriously consider him to be an elite fighter, let alone worthy of HOF induction. Props to him for chasing and securing the fight with Tank, though.

So, TLDR...

Three of the four guys continue to build their cases in different ways. I think that's impressive given where they all were at the time this post was created.

 

Not Garcia.

I like Davis. He is probably the most talented. But there is a good chance he will self destruct. Also as far as match making goes, as an opponent of his you can’t make any plans about fighting Davis because you won’t know if and when he is going to get in trouble again. It’s very possible a scheduled fight will fall trough.

Lopez: When he is good is is really good! He got some divorce stuff to take care of but I am sure he will be back. Hopefully it won’t take too long. I can see him clean out Light Welterweight.

Haney seems to be the the most stable out of all of them. Therefore I give him a good chance to achieve the most.