Did Arturo Gatti Deserve IBHOF Spot?

[phallus]

So should the same standard be applied to every national star across the world?

Your Nigel Benn's? Your Frank Bruno's? Your Mikkel Kessler's? I wonder how many potential Chinese fighters Zou Shiming inspired?

Im not singling out Gatti here btw. I dont think Barry Mcguigan should be in the hall either, and he is in due to similar reasons. Though as i said earlier Barry at least got one great win vs Eusebio Pedroza and was lineal FW champ.

i love nigel benn, he's a two division champ and was the british amateur national champ at 147. i wouldn't want to see bruno in there though, lol. i think Mcguigan's big win over Pedroza might be good enough to get him in, the bottom line is what Anthony said, that every sport has questionable inductions in their hall of fame. we've got roid cheaters and thugs in baseball, it just seems inevitable in a world everybody gets a medal for participation that the standards would be eventually lowered

Every other sport has questionable inductions in their halls of fame. I guess now boxing is no different.

[TJ highway]

After all these years everybody is still talking about Arturo Gatti!

Why? Because the man had heart, He had guts, he had the heart of a lion!

Just this last week I saw a fighter go to the score cards because of a cut caused by a head butt! This fighter was obviously looking for a way out of the fight!

When did were ever see Gatti trying to get out of a fight because of a cut or blood?

Oscar De La Hoya, who faced many big punchers from 130 pounds to 160 pounds, says Gatti hit him the hardest out of any fighter.

In my book Gatti is a Hall of Famer.

[billeau2]

i love nigel benn, he's a two division champ and was the british amateur national champ at 147. i wouldn't want to see bruno in there though, lol. i think Mcguigan's big win over Pedroza might be good enough to get him in, the bottom line is what Anthony said, that every sport has questionable inductions in their hall of fame. we've got roid cheaters and thugs in baseball, it just seems inevitable in a world everybody gets a medal for participation that the standards would be eventually lowered

That is a brilliant observation, Seriously brilliant. With that in mind, the high councils of pundentry, whether it be in the Canadian sport of Curling, or Football...the real football! there will always be the social aspect of the sport and an aspect reserved for thinking men. The social aspect will reflect the needs of the gentry, with their favorites, their understanding of the sport, etc.

One can see what happens with the pundits, the Oakland A team of the late sixties won back to back world series. The people in that organization birthed a new way of using statistics and making statistics relavent in baseball. The trainers like Goldman and BlackBurn developed a new understanding of techniques and application eclipsing the older way of using fencing paradigms for boxing...

There is a place for brilliance in all these sports and it probably is not in the Hall of Fame... The Hall of fame is a place for social brilliance, a prism for how society views what is important in the sport....So Joe Louis a mild mannered Black man, suddenly becomes the representative of every American during the second world war... That is important.

I actually think that this comment and how we live in a society, right now, that rewards on the basis of effort...it leads me to believe that Gatti indeed has a place in the HOF. Gatti tried his best and socially this gave the guy in the pub the inspiration to do it like Chuck Wepner did it! And Rocky became the manifestation of that way. "I might not be pretty like Ali, or as strong as Liston, but I am formed of piss and vinegar and I will fight until I cannot fight no more!" That is as much part of the Sweet Science as the technical brilliance of a great fighter, it just belongs in a slightly different place.

[Anthony342]

The real football is here in the US. We made it fun and manly.

[$Bullsfam$]

He definitely deserves a Yao Ming pass here. His contributions outside of achievements are legendary. He's not a hall of fame boxer but surely is a hall of fame fighter.

When people talk about fights a lot of times they use Gatti as criteria.

Like for example, Floyd-Oscar was massively hyped and was still a really good fight but the hype is just so big it's a let down if its anything but spectacular.

"It wasn't a Gatti-Ward classic but it was still a pretty good fight."

He was pretty much the real life Rocky Balboa. People can relate and he gained boxing a lot of new fans. Not to mention his fights were always must watch television.

[Ray Corso]

"Hall of Fame" Yes he was a very famous fighter.

Hall of Skills No not so much.

Everyone watched this guy when he fought, he competed.

Ray.

[shawn_w_smith]

All depends what you're looking for in a hall of famer.

His credentials don't scream HofF by any means, but when you consider he had three of the most important fights in the sport over the last 30 years, that does carry some water.

I have no issue with him being in, but likely wouldn't have voted for him.

[OctoberRed]

By Gatti getting in, you are sure to get a real push for fighters like Jose Luis Castillo, Mickey Ward, Diego Corrales and others in that realm to get in.

[Saad54]

Based on ring accomplishments: No

But, the IBHOF has had several questionable choices.

The criteria for induction seem to be cloudy and politics seems to creep into the decision making process.

That said - he made a lot of money for a lot of people and brought much exposure to the main stream.

[Saad54]

"Hall of Fame" Yes he was a very famous fighter.

Hall of Skills No not so much.

Everyone watched this guy when he fought, he competed.

Ray.

Lol. Then, based on that criteria we can expect Butterbean to soon be inducted.