Hall of famers with excellent ability but not a great resume

[greeh]

The problem with talking about 'hall of famers' is that there is a hell of a lot of bias involved with who does/has got in and who hasn't/won't get in. Only one Japanese and few other Asian fighters in the hall of fame is testament to that.

I know what you getting at and I agree that Calzaghe's resume doesn't quite stack up to his ability as well as it might have. Naseem Hamed is another who is often derided (slightly harshly but not completely without merit) for having a resume less than supreme. Too many people don't like to admit it but Joe Louis is probably another good example. Of course nobody doubts that Joe Louis is an all time great but that only highlights the inconsistency of judgments of this issue. The one thing that Calzaghe, Hamed, and Louis all had in common though is that their respective weight divisions were relatively weak when they were at their peak.

Other examples that spring to mind might be Kostya Tszyu, Ricardo Lopez, and Yoko Gushiken.

Khaosai Galaxy and Dariusz Michalczewski are two examples of fighters who didn't dominate their era at their weight because there was at least one other title holder (Watanabe, Roman, Jones jr) who was also dominant at the same time but does that mean their weren't dominant? They both won a lot of title fights and generally in a dominant fashion.

Khaosai was dominant, but a better question would be: what did he dominate?

If “The Ring” hadn't put him on a pedestal I doubt he would receive half of the accolades he has gotten through the years. The fact that he showcased some glaring flaws against opposition that were average at best coupled with his complete lack of fights against the other top fighters during the 115lbs. division's "Golden Age" - except for a totally shot version of Rafael Orono - is a big drawback.

On the other hand isn't Watanabe’s resume exactly stacked with great fighters either, but it’s a notch better than Galaxy's and he showed a very good skill-set and actually fought two of the division's top fighters, Gustavo Ballas and Gilberto Roman, although he was past his prime in the latter.

In my opinion was Gilberto Roman the best 115-pounder during this time. He fought and beat better opposition than either of the two mentioned above, as well as being the division’s most technically skilled fighter together with Watanabe. Khaosai’s resume with a shot Rafael Orono or at best a solid Israel Contreras as his best win sprinkled in between all the mediocrity he feasted on such as Ellyas Pical and Kenji Matsumura is inferior to Roman’s in every way.

The Mexican didn’t have any strong basic tools to rely on as Khaosai had, e.g. a bone-crushing left, but compensated it by being superbly well-schooled and his technical completeness made him able to fight at all distances and directions without any problems. He didn’t really have any defects in his technical armour.

I would overall say that Khaosai’s opposition was about on par with Ricardo Lopez. I do rate Lopez as the better fighter between them because of his superior technical prowess - but it’s a joke that both of them were inducted to the Hall of Fame before Hiroyuki Ebihara, Ernesto Marcel or Masao Ohba to name a few of a whole batch with more deserving fighters.

Gilberto Roman is also included in that batch, and he is at least as great as the “Three Amigos” in my opinion.

Anyway resume is overrated, looking at how they looked in the ring is more important in regards to greatness/hall of fame worthiness.

What a load of bull****.

It’s the absolute best benchmark to measure greatness. Judging a fighter almost solely on how they look in the ring would be misleading and with that flawed criterion could Ricardo Lopez very well be in the Top 10. Those who use common sense know it’s laughable to even consider him for those spots with the kind of opposition he faced. It's just dumb to try and downgrade the importance of a good resume, because if we don’t take into account who they looked good against we would shoot ourselves in the foot - because most good fighters can look marvelous against mediocre opposition.

[jas]

this wasnt meant to be a discussion about whether certain fighters should be in the HOF, just replace the term Hall of famers in the title with world-class fighters

but feel free to debate about HOF if you want

[GeneralZod]

Gatti and Hawk.

[Sugar Adam Ali]

Corrales hasn't even gotten in yet. Neither has Tippy Larkin. Forrest literally only has 2 wins over Mosley and a robbery win over an old Quartey. No way at all he gets in. Hell Corrales has a better resume than Forrest does

Corrales doesnt have a win thats close to beating a prime undefeated shane twice,,,, Castillo win is very close

Corrales will get in, maybe not soon but within 10-15 years, he will be in.. No doubt in my mind.. He was a beloved action fighter, that won probably one of the greatest fights ever, and the greatest fight of his era... As the older voters get replaced by younger ones, corrales will get in

[Holywarrior]

Corrales doesnt have a win thats close to beating a prime undefeated shane twice,,,, Castillo win is very close

Corrales will get in, maybe not soon but within 10-15 years, he will be in.. No doubt in my mind.. He was a beloved action fighter, that won probably one of the greatest fights ever, and the greatest fight of his era... As the older voters get replaced by younger ones, corrales will get in

Ok but one win doesn't make a career. Naseem Hamed isn't even in and he has a better host of win than Forrest does.

Corrales has wins over Castillo, Casamayor, Manfredy, Garcia, Brown, Freitas. Look at how many 0's he's taken.

This really isn't close at all. Corrales, if he gets in, should be before Forrest easily.