Ibhof...should they have a hall of fame for amateur boxers?

[oldwarrior]

Hey one and all.

I say yes. Fighters like Teofilo Stevenson and Felix Savon would have been in the mix and made their mark except for the politics of Fidel Castro.

Brushing aside the politics for a second and concentrating solely on the ability of the fighters; I believe that at least these two fighters should be in the hall of fame.

What do you think?

Any other fighters also worthy of this honor?

oldwarrior

[bjermaine]

lazlo papp is in because of his three gold medals. i don't see why the cubans shouldn't get in. hopefully they will in time.

[oldwarrior]

I think that Savon and Stevenson also have 3 gold medals each. Papp fought professionally but started at the age of 31.

thanks for your comments.

oldwarrior

[locoxelbox]

Good point. It should be for the outstanding amateurs who stayed too long to have a serious pro career.
If we talk about legends I think they should have four titles between Olympics and World Championships and then the list looks like this:

Felix Savon (CUB) 3 OG-6 WCH
Teofilo Stevenson (CUB) 3 OG-3WCH
Mario Kindelan (CUB) 2 OG-3 WCH
Angel Herrera (CUB) 2 OG-2 WCH
Hector Vinent (CUB) 2 OG-2 WCH
Ariel Hernandez (CUB) 2 OG-2 WCH
Guillermo Rigondeaux (CUB) 2 OG-2 WCH
Roberto Balado (CUB) 1 OG-3 WCH
Odlanier Solis (CUB) 1 OG-3 WCH
Juan Hernandez Sierra (CUB) 4 WCH

[pound per pound]

Hey one and all.

I say yes. Fighters like Teofilo Stevenson and Felix Savon would have been in the mix and made their mark except for the politics of Fidel Castro.

Brushing aside the politics for a second and concentrating solely on the ability of the fighters; I believe that at least these two fighters should be in the hall of fame.

What do you think?

Any other fighters also worthy of this honor?

oldwarrior

I would be A-OK with the very best amateur fighters of all time who did not get a chance to go professional to get a fair look. I think the fighters won multiple gold medals at the Olympics or World Amateur Champions should being enshrined in boxing hall of fame.

[oldwarrior]

Thanks for your responses. This is starting to take shape as the point I feel is so important. Politics when it rears it's ugly head, usually creates more problems than it solves.

Of course, this is a boxing forum and not a political one but I feel that so many great fighters of the past, never got a chance because someone else who was in a position of power ends up punishing those people.

What I'm also saying is that this slight appears to be pointed at the Cubans primarily and in fact at Castro himself.

We seem to feel here in the United States that we are the center of the universe and we aren't. There have been and always will be great fighters from all over the world. Too bad that we let other things get in the way of it.

oldwarrior