SONAHR: HALIFAX, Nova Scotia – February 14, 2016 – This year?s crop of inductees into the International Boxing Hall of Fame is a middling one ? not outstanding, but not head-shakingly questionable, either. Hector (Macho) Camacho, who was murdered by gunfire in 2012, is certainly deserving of enshrinement. So are his fellow members of the class of 2016: Hilario Zapata and Lupe Pintor. None of these fighters were the greatest-ever in their weight classes, but they were all outstanding performers in the ring ? and Camacho was a controversial figure outside the squared circle as well.
Among fighters active today, several will eventually join these three in Canastota. The Ring magazine?s ?Pound for Pound? rankings can be viewed as a rough indicator of which current practitioners of the sweet science are locks for future induction, and which are longshots. A couple of years ago, I looked at The Ring?s list and speculated as to which ones were likely to be immortalized on plaques at the IBHOF.
At that time, the list consisted of:
1. Floyd Mayweather Jr 2. Andre Ward 3. Wladimir Klitschko 4. Manny Pacquiao 5. Timothy Bradley 6. Juan Manuel Marquez 7. Guillermo Rigondeaux 8. Carl Froch 9. Roman Gonzalez 10. Saul (Canelo) Alvarez
I considered everyone on that list, except Alvarez, to be eventual Hall-of-Famers, some sooner than others. For Canelo, the jury was still out.
In the first months of 2016, The Ring?s elite list has undergone radical changes over a relatively short time. Mayweather and Froch have retired. Marquez has been inactive. Klitschko was defeated by Tyson Fury. So here?s how the current list looks:
1. Roman Gonzalez 2. Sergey Kovalev 3. Gennady Golovkin 4. Andre Ward 5. Guillermo Rigondeaux 6. Terence Crawford 7. Manny Pacquiao 8. Canelo Alvarez 9. Shinsuke Yamanaka 10. Timothy Bradley
Of the six holdovers, Pacquiao is still a lock to be elected in his first year of eligibility, regardless of whether his upcoming third fight with Bradley is his swan song, and regardless of whether Pacman wins or loses. Bradley will be there, too, although still perhaps not the first time he?s on the ballot. Ward and Rigondeaux remain plaque-worthy as well. So is Gonzalez, who is making great progress toward shifting some of the limelight onto boxing?s unfairly-neglected lower weight divisions. And with significant wins over Erislandy Lara, James Kirkland and Miguel Cotto, Alvarez is burnishing his credentials, even though he?s still a work-in-progress.
Among the four newcomers to the list, Kovalev and Golovkin are certainly carving out strong Canastota credentials. Both of these Eastern Europeans are undefeated knockout artists who are dominating their divisions ? Kovalev the light-heavyweights, Golovkin the middleweights. Ward may be a threat to Kovalev, as is Alvarez to Golovkin. Hopefully, those matchups will be made, with the legacies of all four fighters on the line.
Crawford is another outstanding, undefeated, crowd-pleasing warrior. If he continues his current upward trajectory, he will likely make it all the way to the top of the pound-for-pound rankings ? and, eventually, to the IBHOF. As for Yamanaka, he is undefeated and holds the WBC bantamweight belt. But there?s a strong ?Who he?? element about him, and he needs to raise his profile to go on to greater glory.
As you can see, when the first years of the next decade roll around, IBHOF voters will have plenty of worthy candidates to choose from. Canastota, here they come …
