If Hamed was American..

[Carbo]

Many American sports writers who get to vote on the ballot, are much enamoured of Hamed, and realise that he brought unprecedented glamour, excitement and explosiveness to the 'little men.'

His achievements easily outweight Bazza's, whose only really impressive wins were Juan LaPorte and a long in the tooth Pedroza, and he was every bit as popular, and even more exciting and dynamic.

As for Gatti - will almost certainly make it in, and I expect Vitali Klit to make it given his comeback after four years out.

Anyone who doesn't rate Marquez is an absolute numpty - he's the only man to have fought Pacman twice and come through 24 whole rounds! He also for me won both fights.

Agree with you on Marquez; can't comment on the Hamed-US hack menage-a-cent.

Gatti getting in is little better than Randall Tex Cobb. OK, a bit better, much better, but d'y'know whadda mean?

Gatti was a fair bit better than Cobb I feel - he was decent at the lower weights, with some good wins, Cobb was just a big lump with a lot of heart - Gatti did have some boxing ability, but he was far less effective at the higher weights later in his career.

Of course, I know he was much better than Cobb -- far better, in fact. However, I feel that my point still stands. Namely, that Gatti gets in only if we account for excitement and entertainment as much as quality.

Gatti's early career benefitted from outweighing his opponents by one or two weight divisions worth of muscle, utilizing day before weigh ins to their nth degree. When he moved up he was, for sure, extremely exciting, but part of that was due to his lack of quality. If he had been so, so good, he wouldn't have been in so many life or death struggles; and, lets face it, some of these weren't exactly against AAA quality opposition.

In fact, after he moved from super featherweight, where he was always about 100 pounds heavier than his opponents, I would say he lost every single time he dipped his toes in world class waters.

Just my take, of course, and I'm sure I'll get plenty of flak from the Arturo-addicts.

[stujones]

Marquez is an absolute stone wall, cast iron, deserved certainty for the HOF. Anyone who argues otherwise is watching the wrong sport.

Hamed should also get in, although I don't rank him as high as Marquez. Hamed basically unified the featherweight division, one of the most prestigious, and so-called classic weight divisions. He fought all the best while he was there, and was stopped from unifying by getting rid of certain belts he'd won, and sanctioning bodies stripping others before he fought them.

He was also one of the biggest ever punchers in the division's history.

Against him is the fact he quit virtually straight after Barrera, that he didn't fight Marquez when he could've, and that he didn't stay at the top for long enough to face Morales or Barrera. In fact, all these points are to do with his short peak. The other point is that although featherweight was a murderer's row shortly after his reign, it wasn't super hot when he was there. Still, it was strong enough.

On balance, looking at some of the chaps who've made it recently, McGuigan being the highest profile, Hamed's wins over Ingle, Medina, Vasquez, a past it Johnson and a over the peak Kelly, along with his domination of the division and dominant style should get him there easy.

If, say, Gatti or one of the Klitschko's make it and Hamed doesn't, I'd be beside myself.

Peak Kelly - yes, Kelly was so in his prime he had lost his world title and never regained it.

[banjo]

Kevin Kelley never had the chance to regain his title and was still a very good fighter when Naz fought him so I think it's harsh when people say Kelley was a has-been. Also I think Naz deserves credit for going over to Kelleys hometown in front of his fans and knocking him out as well.

[Maelstrom]

If Naz gets in, he will take up two spaces....

[coneye]

He will get in , he was an exciting fighter too watch

[Gray-Fox]

He'll get in. Definitely never to be forgotten in the world of boxing.

[Carbo]

Marquez is an absolute stone wall, cast iron, deserved certainty for the HOF. Anyone who argues otherwise is watching the wrong sport.

Hamed should also get in, although I don't rank him as high as Marquez. Hamed basically unified the featherweight division, one of the most prestigious, and so-called classic weight divisions. He fought all the best while he was there, and was stopped from unifying by getting rid of certain belts he'd won, and sanctioning bodies stripping others before he fought them.

He was also one of the biggest ever punchers in the division's history.

Against him is the fact he quit virtually straight after Barrera, that he didn't fight Marquez when he could've, and that he didn't stay at the top for long enough to face Morales or Barrera. In fact, all these points are to do with his short peak. The other point is that although featherweight was a murderer's row shortly after his reign, it wasn't super hot when he was there. Still, it was strong enough.

On balance, looking at some of the chaps who've made it recently, McGuigan being the highest profile, Hamed's wins over Ingle, Medina, Vasquez, a past it Johnson and a over the peak Kelly, along with his domination of the division and dominant style should get him there easy.

If, say, Gatti or one of the Klitschko's make it and Hamed doesn't, I'd be beside myself.

Peak Kelly - yes, Kelly was so in his prime he had lost his world title and never regained it.

Sorry, but did you not read what I wrote? I said, "over the peak Kelly", not peak Kelly. Over the peak surely means he is on the way down? He's gone up, hit the peak, but is now over that.

Or am I wrong, did it read differently?

[stujones]

Appologies - skim reading. I thought it read "over A peak"... sorry.