No controversy with these worthy Hall inductees
While Manny Pacquiao is in New York City for the Boxing Writers of America annual dinner, and the Clottey vs. Cotto fight, why doesn’t he take the short flight to Syracuse and join the proceedings at the International Boxing Hall of Fame?
I mean he’s here already. Why not get his right fist cast in plaster, thank the little people, etc…
I’m just kidding. The bucolic town that is Canastota, is just 15 minutes from the Syracuse airport. The town will be calling him soon enough.
Like former heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis, being inducted Sunday after the mandatory five year wait and first ballot election, Pacquiao could take some notes. Lewis stayed retired. That is an achievement in itself.
Larry Merchant (Photo: HBO)
HBO Boxing Analyst Larry Merchant is also getting inducted. His honor is more for lifetime achievement. The longtime journalist richly deserves this and his speech will probably be the most eloquent.
Orlando Canizales, of Laredo, Texas, holder of a record 16 bantamweight title defenses, is proof that there is no shortcut to long-term success. Nobody is more excited about this than his manager, Bob Spagnola, a personal friend of mine. This is validation of all his hard work and sacrifice over the years.
And finally Bobby Goodman joins his father Murray in the Hall. Bobby is a real insider in this business but after a successful event at either Madison Square Garden, where he presided for many years, or at the many Don King fights he coordinated, you could sense the distinct personal touch of a Bobby Goodman involvement.
I figure Pacquiao fights at most for two more years before retiring. After waiting the obligatory five years, I see Manny an obvious first ballot Hall of Fame member in 2017.
Wouldn’t it be great for Pacquiao to go into The Hall with fellow titans Marco Antonio Barrera and Erik Morales?
I can see it now, Pacquiao, Barrera and Morales and their families and friends on the Saturday night before Sunday induction, in the back party room at Graziano’s Casa Mia Restaurant, across the street from The Hall, swapping tall tales about their experiences.
Let’s hope these three bury their differences by then so we don’t have a nasty situation like we have with Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier.
