5 Boxers That Should Not Have Been Inducted in the International Boxing Hall of Fame!

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By Rich “Lite It Up” Lopez

The International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) is upon us and is almost a week away. Once again, it’s a great place to visit and definitely an event you should not miss. About two weeks ago, I wrote an article on the Pros and Cons of the IBHOF. Now before I get into this, I respect all past fighters that have been inducted and all future fighters that will be inducted. This article is an opinion of five boxers off the top of my head, which I think should have not been inducted in the IBHOF. There are other boxers that belong on the list as well, but I’ll keep it at five for now.

1. Barry McGuigan: McGuigan was a popular fighter from Ireland in the 1980’s and was a former WBA World Featherweight Champion. He was an action fighter and had a very aggressive style. He did beat top contenders such as Jose Caba and Juan Laporte before his title shot. McGuigan’s biggest achievement was dethroning long time reigning WBA Featherweight Champion, Eusebio Pedroza, by a 15 round unanimous decision in 1985. Pedroza at that time had already made 19 defenses of the title, so this was an impressive win for McGuigan.

This automatically made McGuigan a star and the new champion. However, to me it takes more than just beating a hall of famer like Pedroza to be inducted. After this, McGuigan only made 2 more defenses of the title against Bernard Taylor and Danilo Cabrera. Then he lost his title in his 3rd defense against Steve Cruz the following year. McGuigan did not fight again until 2 years later in 1988. He did pick up 3 wins, but lost his final bout against Jim McDonnell. McGuigan’s championship reign was very short lived and he was not able to come back as a top fighter.

2. Arturo Gatti: Gatti was a former world champion in two weight divisions. He won the IBF World Super Featherweight in 1995 beating Tracie Harris Patterson by unanimous decision. He followed this up with 3 title defenses before vacating the title and moving up to the lightweight division in 1997. He did not have a successful run at Lightweight as he lost 3 fights in a row. He lost to Angel Manfredy and Ivan Robinson (twice). He moved up to the junior welterweight division and had four straight wins there before challenging Oscar De La Hoya at welterweight. De La Hoya stopped Gatti in the 5th round of their bout.

Gatti moved back down to junior welterweight and went to fight Mickey Ward in a trilogy. Their trilogy will go down as the best in boxing history. Gatti eventually won the WBC World Junior Welterweight title against Gianluca Branco and made two defenses of the title before losing to Floyd Mayweather, JR.

If you were to ask me who is one of my favorite action fighter of all time is, that would be Gatti hands down. Gatti did have four Fight of the Year’s by Ring Magazine and maybe some people think he belongs in the hall on that notion alone. To me though, his two title reigns were short lived and he lost the big fights.

3. Riddick Bowe: Bowe was one of the top heavyweight boxers in the 90’s and was a two time Heavyweight Champion. He was a great amateur boxer and was a silver medalist in the 1988 Olympic Games. While being a top contender, he had wins against Bert Cooper, Pinklon Thomas, Pierre Coetzer, Tony Tubbs, and Tyrell Biggs. His biggest accomplishment was becoming the Undisputed World Heavyweight Champion when he defeated Evander Holyfield in their 1992 classic slugfest. Bowe would only make two title defenses beating Jesse Ferguson and Michael Dokes. He then lost a rematch to Holyfield the following year.

Afterwards, Bowe became a champion again. He won the WBO title by stopping Herbie Hide in 1995 and then made one defense of the title stopping Jorge Luis Gonzalez. Bowe would meet Holyfield for the third time and ended up stopping him in the 8th round. After this, Bowe was never the same fighter. He won two ugly victories over Andrew Golota, which are known as the infamous “low blow” fights. Even with the victories, you can see Bowe in decline. Bowe took eight years off boxing after the 2nd Golota fight. He had 3 more victories in his career but was way past his prime. Bowe’s prime did not last long and due to his short title reigns, he fell short in my view.

4. Carlos Palomino: Palomino was the former WBC World Welterweight Champion in the late 70’s. He won the All-Army Light Welterweight Championship in 1971 and 1972 and had a late start in his professional career at the age of 23. Palomino worked his way up to a title shot in 1976 and he beat Englishman, John H. Stracey, for the welterweight title. After that, Palomino made 7 defenses of his title which included wins over Armando Muniz (twice) and Dave “Boy” Green.

He then lost the title to Wilfredo Benitez in 1979 and lost again the same year against Roberto Duran. After the Duran fight, he retired from boxing and got involved in acting. After 17 years, Palomino came back to the ring at the age of 47 years old and secured 4 straight victories. He lost his final fight in 1998 against Wilfredo Rivera. He was a good champion but only for about 2 years and a half. Had he become champion again or kept fighting in his prime, maybe I would change my mind about his induction.

5. Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini: Mancini was a former 2 time World Lightweight Champion in the 80’s. He was a TV friendly fighter due to his all action style. Mancini started well in his professional career at a very young age. Already at the age of 20 he defeated the rugged Jose Luis Ramirez and then challenged Alexis Arguello for the WBC World Lightweight title. Even though Mancini lost, he put a great effort in the fight.

In 1982, Mancini won the WBA World Lightweight in a shootout against Arturo Frias. Mancini defended the title four times and then lost it to Livingstone Bramble by stoppage in 1984. Mancini then lost again to Bramble the following year in 1985. Mancini took four years off and came back but lost to Hector Camacho. This was followed up with another comeback in 1992 against Greg Haugen, but he lost again. He was another fighter whose championship reign was short lived. Like Gatti, he is one of my favorite action fighters, but I felt his accomplishments didn’t make the cut to be in the hall of fame.

In a nutshell, the fighters I listed I believe were inducted on a popularity level and not for the accomplishments. Of course, the boxers I listed had their achievements, but there are other boxers that have done more. Then again if Sylvester Stallone was inducted, then anyone can. Right?

In conclusion, when the IBHOF comes around or when I have attended the event, I do not even think about who should be inducted or not. I’m focused on honoring the inductees and all the other fighter’s past or present that attend. I’m only talking in a sense if I was given the duty as a voter, then you need to analyze the fighters carefully and pick wisely. There are many fighters that still have not been inducted yet and their time has been way overdue. That will be the focus on my next article.

So, what do you think? Do you agree with my picks?

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