The BN24 Classic Boxing Hall of Legends

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THE CLASSIC HALL OF LEGENDS​

"I'm the old lion. I don't fight for the money. I want to show myself that I'm a champion. I do this in search of glory."

- Roberto Duran.

The Classic Hall of Legends is by the members and for the members. To discuss the Hall of Legends, the inductees, the processes and to find the threads in which the fighters were inducted and discussed please see this thread.

The Inaugural Induction was carried out in September and October of 2022.

Debate over the First Annual Induction is set to begin in October of 2023.


The Classic Hall of Legends is in memory of @BlackCloud and @djanders

 

List of Inductees from Mimumweight (105) to Lightweight (135):

Alexis Arguello -- Henry Armstrong -- Jack Berg -- Al Brown -- Miguel Canto -- Tony Canzoneri
Joe Gans -- Frankie Genaro -- Wilfredo Gomez -- Fighting Harada -- Eder Jofre -- Benny Leonard -- Benny Lynch -- Packey McFarland -- Terry McGovern -- Ruben Olivares -- -- Carlos Ortiz -- Manuel Ortiz -- Willie Pep -- Pascual Perez -- Barney Ross -- Sandy Saddler -- Vicente Saldivar -- Salvador Sanchez -- Pancho Villa -- Freddie Welsh -- Jimmy Wilde -- Ike Williams -- Midget Wolgast -- Carlos Zarate

 

List of Inductees from 140 (Light Welterweight) to Heavyweight (unlimited):

Muhammad Ali -- Wilfredo Benitez -- Charley Burley -- Ezzard Charles -- Billy Conn -- Bob Fitzsimmons - George Foreman -- Bob Foster -- Joe Frazier -- Kid Gavilan -- Harry Greb -- Emile Griffith -- Marvin Hagler -- Stanley Ketchel -- Sam Langford -- Ray Leonard -- Nico Locche -- Tommy Loughran -- Joe Louis -- Jack Johnson -- Rocky Marciano -- Carlos Monzon - Archie Moore -- Jose Napoles -- Jack O'Brien -- Aaron Pryor -- Ray Robinson -- Michael Spinks -- Dick Tiger -- Gene Tunney -- Mickey Walker -- Joe Walcott --

 

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Held for future posts.

 

MUHAMMAD ALI

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"I am The Greatest"

Inducted At: Heavyweight, Inaugural.
Years Active: 1960-1981
Lineal Champion: 1964-1967; 1974-1978; 1978-1979.
Boxrec Record: 56-5

"My wife is crazy about him, my kids are crazy about him, and I'm crazy about him," said Archie Moore upon finally throwing his hands up and admitting defeat in trying to teach Ali some of the universal truths of the boxing ring, "but he just won't do what I tell him to do. He thinks I'm trying to change his style."

Ali never did break. He can be seen on film throwing a few body punches here and there, most notably against Alex Miteff, who he folded in half like faulty deckchair, but in general he stuck to the Ali-ism that he felt suited his style: "Keep punching a man's head and it mixes his mind." Ali mixed the minds of fellow Classic Inaugural Inductees George Foreman and Joe Frazier, not to mention Moore himself before stringing together a heavyweight resume so ridiculous as to sometimes seem made up. Whether you list the ten greatest heavyweights, the twenty, or the hundred, it is a fact that Muhammad Ali will have defeated a sizeable portion of them.

And he did it without the rulebook, which he tore apart then stubbornly refused to tape back together. He had the good luck too to meet what was for him the perfect corernman in Angelo Dundee. "You couldn't actually direct or order him to do something," Dundee would say of Ali. "He resented direct orders. You sort of had to mould him. Mostly it was all him."

Mostly, it was.

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LOU AMBERS

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"Armstrong and Ross are both dangerous. You pick the winner, i'll fight him."

Inducted At: Lightweight, Inaugural.
Years Active: 1932-1941
Lineal Champion: 1936-1938; 1939-1940
Boxrec Record: 89-8-7

Take a breath:

Bummy Davis, Henry Armstrong, Baby Arizmendi, Paul Junior, Tommy Cross, Pedro Montanez, Tony Canzoneri, Fritzie Zivic, Jimmy Leto, Cocoa Kid and about eighty-five other forlorn souls who had the bad luck to share the ring with a lightweight as brutal as any who would come after him. Ambers built a resume as stacked as was possible in a career and the jewel in that crown, a unique victory over the immortal Hank Armstrong in his absolute prime, is as good on paper as any victory that has been recorded.

In reality, questionable refereeing sees that victory undercelebrated, but the good news is that so storied is Ambers that he doesn't need to rely upon it, clean victories over the likes of Tony Canzoneri and Fritzie Zivic chief among them.

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ALEXIS ARGUELLO

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"I believe more in precision. Like when you see a mosquito and you hit it with a couple of short sharp shots. That’s beautiful.”

Inducted At: Feathweight, Inaugural
Years Active: 1968-1995
Lineal Champion: 1975-1977 (Featherweight); 1981-1982 (Lightweight)
Boxrec Record: 77-8

Between his being decisioned by the superb Ernesto Marcel in early 1974 and his failed attempt at becoming a four-weight strapholder in the controversial loss to Aaron Pryor in late 1982, Arguello lost just one of forty-two fights against fleet-footed lightweight Vilomar Fernandez, who exposed in him a stylistic weakness to elusive, dancing boxers. In the other forty-one fights, everyone else revealed a stylistic weakness to an all-time great punching technician with every shot in the book married to unerring accuracy. Those that demonstrated this universal Achilles heel included Art Hafey, Ruben Olivares, Royal Kobayashi, Bobby Chacon, Ruben Castillo, Jim Watt and Ray Mancini. He lifted titles at featherweight, super-featherweight and lightweight, holding the lineal title at featherweight and lightweight but ironically not the weight at which he was most deadly, super-featherweight, his failure to meet Sam Serrano costing him that particular badge of honor. Whilst his height, genuinely freakish for a featherweight, helped him immensely in moving through the weights Arguello's dominance through those classes remains impressive.

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WILFREDO BENITEZ

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"It's like chasing a ghost." - Ray Leonard.

Inducted At: All Other Weight Classes, Inaugural
Years Active: 1973-1990
Lineal Champion: 1976-1979 (Light-Welterweight); 1979 (Welterweight)
Boxrec Record: 53-8-1

Wilfred Benitez was only seventeen years old when he slipped into the Puerto Rican ring to meet 4-1 favorite and champion Antonio Cervantes, lifting the WBA light-welterweight title over fifteen rounds. Benitez was arguably never better, although he would impress many times between this March of 1976 and his July 1983 defeat by the brawling Mustafa Hamsho up at middleweight. In between he was beaten just twice, by Thomas Hearns and Ray Leonard. When he stepped into the ring with Leonard in November of 1979, his record stood at 38-0-1 and he was about to impress once more, albeit in defeat.

Benitez assuaged aggression in fighters as well as anyone in boxing with a combination of direct and hurtful counterpunching and that tricky head-movement that bought him the nickname "El Radar."

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JACK BERG

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"I signed my first contract when i was about fourteen and a half."

Inducted At: All Other Weight Classes, Inaugural
Years Active: 1924-1945
Lineal Champion: 1930-1931 (Light-Welterweight)
Boxrec Record: 157-26-9

With a relentlessness that typified his ring style, Berg amassed 157 wins at the expense of 26 losses. Ten of those defeats came as he wound down his career over shorter distances in the US having lost his British title to Jimmy Walsh in 1936 (a bizarre trip to the Caribbean to win the Bermuda Welterweight title aside). He first ran into Kid Chocolate in August of 1930, his fifty-six fight unbeaten streak on the line. The bigger man by some nine pounds, The Whitechapel Whirlwind used every drop of that extra weight to harass and harangue the superior boxer and betting favorite back. Chocolate dominated the early exchanges but Berg finished the stronger of the two and with no more than a round between them in any newspaper report, Berg took the split. Two years later they met again and again Chocolate was beaten, this time over the longer distance of fifteen rounds. Berg was no craftsman, was not the equal of Chocolate in that regard, any more than he was the equal of the great Tony Canzoneri but he, too, was bested, absorbing what the New York Times called the worst beating of his career. Canzoneri was able to reverse this loss in subsequent rematches but like Joe Glick, Billy Petrolle, Billy Wallace or Tippy Larkin, he found himself coming up short at least once against Jack Berg, a brutal find-a-way mauler of a fighter.

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JIMMY BIVINS

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"When I did get a fight with Joe Louis, he said he was going to knock me out. I said 'Big Red, you know you got to hit me first'...he tried his darnest to knock me down, he didn't even knock me off my feet."

Inducted At: Wildcards, Inaugural
Years Active: 1940-1955
Lineal Champion: No.
Boxrec Record: 86-25-1

Jimmy Bivins fought a level of competition only a handful of fighters can equal and even fewer outmatch. After just fourteen fights he was pitted against Pittsburgh welterweight Charley Burley, then approaching his red hot prime, and although he held a size advantage, it is in no way a fight Bivins should have been winning;and yet, he did, landing the heavier blows and nicking a unanimous decision. The door had opened on one of the most astonishing runs in boxing history.

His unbeaten streak was ended by former European middleweight champion Anton Christoforidis whilst he was still just 19-0, but Anton was a fighter Bivins had beaten before, and would again. In March of 1941 he beat the great Teddy Yarosz, and a month later outpointed heavyweight veteran Billy Knox. Still a light-heavyweight, Lem Franklin and Tony Musto, both in excess of 200 pounds proved too much for him, but he overcame the murderous punching Curtis Sheppard in ten. After losing to Melio Bettina he beat former middleweight champion Billy Soose and former (and future) light-heavyweight champion Gus Lesnevich back-to-back before being matched against leading heavyweight contender Bob Pastor. Pastor had around ten pounds on Jimmy, who was a huge underdog, but the Clevelander nearly put him away in both the first and the second before succumbing to Pastor's sustained body attack and dropping another decision. That was April of 1942 and Bivins would not lose again until February of 1946. In that time frame he beat:

Oakland Billy Smith who was two months away from knocking out Lloyd Marshall, and a few months away from a draw with Archie Moore; light-heavyweight title challenger Melio Bettina to take a 2-1 lead in their series; 200-pound heavyweight contender Lee Q. Murray; Archie Moore, whom he knocked down six times before knocking him out in six; Lloyd Marshall who was coming off his career best win over Ezzard Charles; heavyweight contenders Tami Mauriello and Pat Valentino; his former conqueror, Anton Christoforidis; Ezzard Charles himself, who he beat like a thief, dropping him so many times in the course of winning a ten-round decision that the newspapers cannot agree upon how many counts there were; Joey Maxim, future light-heavyweight champion of the world; Bob Pastor, whom he avenged himself against by nearly stopping on course to a ten-round decision; and the much heavier Lee Savold, beaten in one-sided fashion.

Although he held straps during the war at both 175lbs and heavyweight, Bivins never held a lineal title. We will see few clearer of examples of why this sometimes doesn't matter.

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JACK BRITTON

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"Jack was constantly the aggressor and landed any number of straight lefts. Not one of these blows carried any great amount of power, but so many landed on the end of Lewis's nose that by and by the blood began to flow." - The New York Tribune.

Inducted At: Wildcards, Inaugural
Years Active: 1904-1930
Lineal Champion: 1915; 1916-1917; 1919-1922
Boxrec Record: 103-29-20

Having fought in around 350 contests (that we know of) and having been stopped only once (in an early fight), Jack Britton's chin is confirmed both as granite and hard to reach; having knocked out only one in ten of his recorded opponents, he was also almost entirely without power. Think, for a moment, of the level of skill necessary to become the single greatest welterweight of your generation despite boxing to a schedule that would have pricked Harry Greb's ears over the course of no fewer than four decades and doing it all without a power punch and you begin to understand the absolute wonder that was Britton.

Summarising Britton's series against Ted Kid Lewis, probably the most extraordinary in fight history, is impossible in this space, but Britton won it, and in the end by knockout as he found a way regardless of his limitations and the greatness and durability of his opponent - when it came down to it, he was a winner, which made him the finest welterweight of his generation and arguably the greatest welterweight to have been born until the summit of Ray Robinson.

 

PANAMA AL BROWN

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"Which way is Harlem?"

Inducted At: Bantamweights, Inaugural
Years Active: 1922-1942
Lineal Champion: 1929-1935
Boxrec Record: 129-19-12

The legendary “Panama” Al Brown towered over most of his opposition at around 5’10, an enormous height for a bantamweight of his era – tall even today – but not the oft reported 6’0 of lore. Loose, fast, Brown used his gifts to dominate from the outside, a booming right hand to the torso among his best punches; but he was also a world class improviser. Some years before the prime of one Kid Gavilan he was throwing something that looked very much like a bolo punch. Despite his skills at range he had mastered the art of infighting and of tactical fouling on the referee’s blindside. It takes less than an hour to review the Brown footage that appears on video hosting sights around the internet and doing so is an illuminating experience.

His great talent added up to one of the longest title reigns in bantamweight history and a decade ranked among the best bantamweights in the world. Unfortunately he did not defend his title with great frequency, nor was he consistent in non-title fights, dropping decisions to Speedy Dado and Newsboy Brown.

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CHARLEY BURLEY

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"Jake Mintz came to me one time and said I might be able to get a contract for three fights with Robinson, but he told me that part of the deal would be that I would have to go down in the first one."

Inducted At: Welterweight, Inaugural
Years Active: 1936-1950
Lineal Champion: No
Boxrec Record: 83-12-2

Wherever you stand on Charley Burley's status as the most ducked fighter in history, it is impossible to ignore the reputation he enjoyed among his peers. Archie Moore who regarded Burley as the best fighter he had ever fought talked about "the way he defied gravity. He could lean back and make you miss. You'd figure he's off balance; he can't break an egg from that position, then you'd get the fright of your life." Eddie Futch who ranked Burley one of the greatest he head ever seen told a story about an occasion where writer Walter Winchell reportedly told Sugar Ray Robinson he should meet Burley to which Robinson replied: "I thought you were my friend." Few, if any of history's great boxing minds can match Futch for wisdom but Ray Arcel is among them. He, too, rated Burley one of the very best. Managers of figures as storied as Henry Armstrong and Fritzie Zivic paid him even higher compliments by working to keep Burley out of their fighter's championship ring. Aged twenty-nine he retired from boxing to work for the city. Such is his legacy. Perhaps it would not have displeased him.

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MIGUEL CANTO

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"I didn't lose one round."

Inducted At: Flyweight, Inaugural
Years Active: 1969-1982.
Lineal Champion: 1975-1979
Boxrec Record: 61-9-4

15-1-1 are Miguel Canto’s numbers in lineal championship fights. Canto racked up his numbers in perhaps the deepest flyweight division ever mustered. Were he a heavyweight he would be lauded as the third great alongside Muhammad Ali and Joe Louis. In 1975 Canto established a lineal claim in as dominant a fashion as any fighter, ever. In January, March and May of that year he defeated the three other most significant flyweights in the world: Shoji Oguma, Ignacio Espinal and Betulio Gonzalez. These five short months shape his flyweight legacy.

Canto never could punch, only one of his title defences was won on a stoppage. But Canto wove this weakness into genius. The most interesting champions are always the ones who build upon their shortcomings and Canto is perhaps the shining example. When you can’t hit, every punch matters; Canto’s solution did not call for the wild stylings of Nico Locche nor the poor economy of Willie Pep. He riffed on technical excellence and you have to watch him carefully to see the magic as he gave ground in ever-decreasing increments to slowly take control of the range or when boxing a great fighter like Betulio Gonzalez so slightly off the line that Gonzalez fights the whole fight as though he were on it. His elegance in taking his greatest failing and designing a fight that meant it just didn’t matter is more beautiful, more storied, more layered, than any puncher trying to trap a crafty contender onto a right hand.

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TONY CANZONERI

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"It's a wonderful feeling to be remembered after all these years. Sure it was worth it, every drop of blood and every stitch of it. I wouldn't have it any other way.”

Inducted At: Featherweight, Inaugural
Years Active: 1925-1939
Lineal Champion: 1928; 1930-1933 (135lbs); 1935-1936 (135lbs)
Boxrec Record: 137-24-10

Tony Canzoneri's fifteen-year, 175-fight career was a series of surges and spurts toward greatness that confuse both the eye and the mind. He won more than Jimmy McLarnin, he lost more than Jimmy McLarnin, and like McLarnin he blew his first title shot, going 0-1-1 against bantamweight champion Bud Taylor. He bested an emaciated Johnny Dundee struggling with the comeback trail in 1927 and then avenged himself upon a deposed Taylor before lifting the featherweight title against Benny Bass. Frenchman Andre Routis separated him from it a few months later and the following year he was beaten out at lightweight by Sammy Mandell in his quest for another title. When Kid Berg decimated him in January of the new decade, Canzoneri's journey seemed over; but in a second attempt at the world title, Canzoneri shocked the world, separating champion Al Singer from his senses in a single round.

His pathology ran so deep that even his extended apprenticeship did not meet his potential. He needed more time to perfect his method. Short, thick, hair slicked back and placid of face even in the worst of pinches, Canzoneri had the look of a gangster but the style of a physicist. A destructive vapor of leans, feints, sells, pulled-punches and hard counters, he is a prototype too complex for mass production, a dead end in the expansion of boxing technique but personally brilliant enough to make it work. He was hell to box.

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