IBHoF To Make Changes

[Ruthless-RKO]

The International Boxing Hall of Fame on Tuesday unveiled various amendments to its balloting procedures, including the creation of two women's categories and the reduction of time a boxer has to be retired to appear on the ballot from five years to three years.

The changes, approved by the Hall of Fame's board of directors, will take effect for the 2020 election process. Voting, done by around 200 members of the Boxing Writers Association of America and a panel of historians, will take place in December with results announced in early 2020.

The 31st annual induction ceremony is scheduled for June 14 at the shrine in Canastota, New York.

"After 30 years of honoring the best in the sport of boxing, the Hall of Fame's goal is to maintain the process that bestows boxing's highest honor to those who have excelled in the sweet science," Hall of Fame executive director Edward Brophy said.

The Hall of Fame, which already inducts people in the modern boxer, old-timer, pioneer, non-participant and observer categories, established two women's categories: a modern category for female boxers whose last bout came no earlier than 1989 and a trailblazer category for female boxers whose last bout came no later than 1988.

Boxers who had fought for five years were previously eligible to be on the ballot for the first time, but that requirement has been reduced to three years.

"Modern technology such as YouTube, Boxrec and other resources allow voters to conduct the most comprehensive research into boxers' careers in history," the Hall of Fame said in its explanation. "With these tools, voters are better able to analyze and evaluate boxers' careers as well as put their accomplishments in historical perspective with far more efficiency. Thus, the Hall of Fame has amended the retirement period."

Typically, the top three vote getters in the modern category are elected without any requirement of a specific percentage threshold of votes, such as is required by the baseball Hall of Fame's 75 percent. However, the boxing Hall of Fame will now automatically induct any fighter who reaches 80 percent, although others could still be elected if they are in the top three without reaching that threshold, meaning a class could exceed three modern boxers.

Further, in the non-participant and observer categories, if a nominee has been on the ballot for at least 10 consecutive years and has not been elected, the nominee will be dropped from the ballot. Following a one-year hiatus, the former nominee is eligible for future placement on the ballot, but it is not guaranteed.

[dagilechia]

HoF should be kinda elite club, there are too much fighters

[Jeff_lacy_ko]

The "must take 3 fighters every year" rule instead of hitting a percentage threshold is ludicrous but clearly they need inductees every year for financial reasons.... so in true boxing fashion our hall of fame is watered down like our championship belts

[Onetimeonly]

Damn Shane they don't make the voters know what they're looking at.

[Onetimeonly]

The "must take 3 fighters every year" rule instead of hitting a percentage threshold is ludicrous but clearly they need inductees every year for financial reasons.... so in true boxing fashion our hall of fame is watered down like our championship belts

Even taking 3 an undeserving guy like gatti and an even more absorb fighter like vitali are first ballot and someone like Castillo isn't even on the ballot.

[Best Coast]

HoF should be kinda elite club, there are too much fighters

Sounds reasonable amigo. But here's the list of Modern Era boxers already inducted into the HOF. Which of these 100+ fighters do you think does NOT belong in the IBHOF? I would be hard-pressed to take out more than a handful of the guys listed on this link:

http://www.ibhof.com/pages/about/inductees/modern.html

[Best Coast]

The "must take 3 fighters every year" rule instead of hitting a percentage threshold is ludicrous but clearly they need inductees every year for financial reasons.... so in true boxing fashion our hall of fame is watered down like our championship belts

Even taking 3 an undeserving guy like gatti and an even more absorb fighter like vitali are first ballot and someone like Castillo isn't even on the ballot.

Good point. Gatti doesnt really belong in the HOF but Jose Luis Castillo can still be voted in & probably will be eventually.

[greg]

... wonder what their policy on dopers/cheats is and if they stick to it..

[Boxing Writer]

The "must take 3 fighters every year" rule instead of hitting a percentage threshold is ludicrous but clearly they need inductees every year for financial reasons.... so in true boxing fashion our hall of fame is watered down like our championship belts

Even taking 3 an undeserving guy like gatti and an even more absorb fighter like vitali are first ballot and someone like Castillo isn't even on the ballot.

Vitali doesn't deserve to be in HOF, but he is definitely more deserving than Gatti. Arturo never was even close to being an elite fighter, he never was even among 30 best P4P fighters at any point of his career. His resume (wins) is EXTREMELY poor. How Gatti was included years ago and Vernon Forrest wasn't, is beyond my understanding. Forrest has much better achievements, much better resume and was much better boxer, I mean two levels better comparing to Gatti.

[Boxing Prospect]

done by around 200 members of the Boxing Writers Association of America

And we wonder why their is such a US bias... INTERNATIONAL BOXING HALL OF FAME why not... Look a lil further afield...

[Lackeos]

... wonder what their policy on dopers/cheats is and if they stick to it..

A.k.a. is Holyfield in the hall? Oh, he is. Then no need to wonder.

[Enlightened-One]

Arturo never was even close to being an elite fighter, he never was even among 30 best P4P fighters at any point of his career. His resume (wins) is EXTREMELY poor. How Gatti was included years ago and Vernon Forrest wasn't, is beyond my understanding. Forrest has much better achievements, much better resume and was much better boxer, I mean two levels better comparing to Gatti.

There are many barometers to gauge “greatness” and one of them obviously has to be in the context of “historical contribution” to the sport of boxing itself.

For instance, Sylvester Stallone has been inducted into the IBHoF and would any of us really argue against the fact that he has contributed far more to the sport of boxing than most?

Gatti was one of the most exciting fighters of all time and his bouts against Ruelas, Robinson and Ward were a joy to watch. He was involved in so many legendary battles.

If many of us were asked to showcase some of boxing’s most exciting and entertaining bouts of all-time to somebody that is unfamiliar with the sport, I strongly suspect that most would consider showing them several of Gatti's greatest fights.

For sure, Arturo wasn’t the most talented fighter (in comparison to fellow IBHoF inductees), but his contribution to the sport of boxing was far greater than many of his Hall-of-Fame peers.

[Onetimeonly]

Even taking 3 an undeserving guy like gatti and an even more absorb fighter like vitali are first ballot and someone like Castillo isn't even on the ballot.

Vitali doesn't deserve to be in HOF, but he is definitely more deserving than Gatti. Arturo never was even close to being an elite fighter, he never was even among 30 best P4P fighters at any point of his career. His resume (wins) is EXTREMELY poor. How Gatti was included years ago and Vernon Forrest wasn't, is beyond my understanding. Forrest has much better achievements, much better resume and was much better boxer, I mean two levels better comparing to Gatti.

I agree vitali was better than gatti as a fighter but Arturo has much better wins. Vitals best results are his losses. He didn't even beat any of the top guys in an extremely weak era.

[Onetimeonly]

Even taking 3 an undeserving guy like gatti and an even more absorb fighter like vitali are first ballot and someone like Castillo isn't even on the ballot.

Good point. Gatti doesnt really belong in the HOF but Jose Luis Castillo can still be voted in & probably will be eventually.

I don't think he is on the ballot.

[Onetimeonly]

... wonder what their policy on dopers/cheats is and if they stick to it..

They don't care. Vitali checks that box too.

[greg]

... wonder what their policy on dopers/cheats is and if they stick to it..

They don't care. Vitali checks that box too.

... too bad they don’t...could be an effective instrument to discourage high-profile cheats of all shapes and colors

[Enlightened-One]

... someone like Castillo isn't even on the ballot.

Jose Luis Castillo's last fight took place 4½ years ago and wasn’t previously eligible for the ballot.

It makes sense to study the IBHoF’s rules prior to criticising its decision to exclude certain “ineligible” fighters from their ballot.

[Onetimeonly]

They don't care. Vitali checks that box too.

... too bad they don’t...could be an effective instrument to discourage high-profile cheats of all shapes and colors

Boxings testing was so pathetic I don't like that path. You had to be really sloppy to get popped. Guys like holy field, Shane, Roy
and pac were never caught. It's also made a joke out of the baseball god the writers pick and choose who used. It's just widespread in modern sports.

[dickbelden]

VITALI KLITSCHKO absolutely belongs in the IBHOF !

[Enlightened-One]

VITALI KLITSCHKO absolutely belongs in the IBHOF !

Yeah, I completely agree!

Here’s a summary of Vitali Klitschko's professional career highlights:

• Over the course of thirteen years, Vitali Klitschko engaged in seventeen world title fights, facing nine former world champions, despite being inactive for a four-year period during that timeframe.

• ‘Dr. Ironfist’ is a three-time world heavyweight champion and was rated amongst The RING’s top-ten heavyweight annual rankings nine times between the years 1999 to 2012. The only reason for him not being rated for four of those years was due to his temporary retirement.

• Vitali managed to reclaim his WBC world heavyweight title back from The RING’s second-highest ranked heavyweight fighter, Samuel Peter, without even bothering with a warm-up fight, despite being inactive for four years beforehand, due to retirement.

• Over the course of his 15½ year career in the pro ranks, Vitali scored 41 knockouts in the 47 bouts he competed in, with 91% of his victories coming by way of KO, the highest percentage of any former world heavyweight champion.

• His only losses were due to having suffered injuries. And he was even leading on all three official judges’ scorecards at the time both fights were stopped.

• Only Wladimir Klitschko, Joe Louis, Muhammad Ali and Larry Holmes have achieved more victories whilst competing in world heavyweight title fights.

[Jeff_lacy_ko]

... wonder what their policy on dopers/cheats is and if they stick to it..

A.k.a. is Holyfield in the hall? Oh, he is. Then no need to wonder.

I tried to press Rafael on whether he would vote 1st ballot for holyfield because peds. He wouldnt address it. Coward

The man cheated plain as day and hit people in the head for a living.

[margaret thatcher]

thing is holy was never proven was he? i mean, the whole evan fields situation makes it pretty clear he was a ped user, but ppl can still cling to him never actually being 'oficially' proven

[Onetimeonly]

VITALI KLITSCHKO absolutely belongs in the IBHOF !

Why?

[Jeff_lacy_ko]

Corrales and casamayor have never been on the ballot.

[margaret thatcher]

lol no kidding, have ppl actually looked at his resume? dude seriously has a guy like sam peter as one of his standout wins. gatti has better wins tbh