Comments Thread For: It’s Been a Good Year: Unloading For The Holidays

[crold1]

Are you mad that Sven Ottke isn't in the Hall of Fame?

One must ask... how does a guy retire as an undefeated, unified super middleweight champion with 21 defenses of one of his straps, and not get into the Hall of Fame? He has to be one of the most overprotected fighters in history that never once left his home country where he received at least 5 robberies.

And you have the balls to question whether Andre Ward has a passport?

Bat's a good dude and said NOTHING about Ottke getting in. The problem's with Ottke are well known. There are other 'international' issues that are easier to spot i.e. guys like Yuh, Chang etc. taking years (if ever) to be inducted while guys like Lopez, Gonzalez, Johnson etc. go in right away. The market perception issue is pretty worthy of debate there.

[crold1]

Kudos to Cliff for admitting that he voted against Gatti but not being too emotionally invested.

There was a time when I might have been but when people whose opinions I actually personally value are voting for him, and state the why, I can at least understand it. Again, and I've evolved to this position pretty firm the last few years: the focus for me is addressing worthy folks who are not in. I can't really get too into bashing guys who ARE in given what this sport demands that others do not.

[BattlingNelson]

Bat's a good dude and said NOTHING about Ottke getting in. The problem's with Ottke are well known. There are other 'international' issues that are easier to spot i.e. guys like Yuh, Chang etc. taking years (if ever) to be inducted while guys like Lopez, Gonzalez, Johnson etc. go in right away. The market perception issue is pretty worthy of debate there.

As well as the Virgil Hill - Dariusz Michalzewski comparison as was touched the other day.

[Weebler I]

Above all, I think the boxing Hall of Fame needs to work on a clear definition with the boundaries for induction clearly demarcated.

At the moment, there appears to be conflict in that the HOF means different things to different people and the somewhat ambiguous title does little to the alleviate the imprecision.

If a clear definition is determined, I think the level of discord over inductions will be reduced to some degree as expectations will be managed and the current seemingly arbitrary nature of inductions would be accountable to a more rigid framework.

article a good round-up of the year, it was a good year for boxing, and I lol'd at 'dude, I think she looked over here'