BoxRec

Is he IBHOF worthy ?

I say yes. The Norris win swings it for me. Prime Brown only lost to Starling and McGirt. I fear his having stuck around too long might harm him slightly, as his loss total mounted towards the end.

I love the fighting spirit and skills of Brown. I love his class and grace. I love the fact that after many, many wars he still speaks like a polished politician - meaning no trauma to the head.

But no, he isn't an all time great. And my favorite fight or "youtube" video is him destroying Norris.

Just not enough huge wins. Yet his title winning effort against Tyrone Trice left me breathless when I watched it live.

Just a bit short really. And he fought way longer than he should have.

Fighting on too long as never kept a fighter out of the HOF. His problem, as Esquire stated, is that he didn't get enough done before that.

Looking back its almost unbelievable that Brown was brought to Canada as a stepping stone for Shawn O'Sullivan, that was some bad match making

Brown is one of my favs and is one of the fights i was jumping out of my chair watching the win over Norris, as he was a big underdog in that one.

As with all favourites you want them to be in the HoF, and would love to see Simon given that award. He was in some great battles, but maybe the McGirt fight is the one he had to win to get his place in there.

I'd approve for two standard reasons,

1. He was featured, accomplished and "visible" enough to develop and maintain a solid fan following.

2. He accomplished some rather worthy things. Though his defining fight was probably a loss.


Purists only care about what the fighter accomplished....and for them it will be a no. In a world where cameras and media don't exist, he does not qualify.

I tend to remember it is about both accomplishments and "fame" and all the baggage fame carries with it.

He was known and respected accomplished enough to the extent that he gets in under my nuanced system.

For the record, no matter how "famous" a very bad fighter manages to get, I would not support a very bad fighters membership. Butterbean is an example of a no hoper in my mind....though yes he was well known. Almost a household name I suppose. As was Cauliflower McPugg in the 40's 50's, and McPugg will not make it either.

Simon was not a bad fighter based on any reasonable measuring scale. And I think he just barely qualifies....and so whether he makes it or not is of little consequence to me.

It's all quite subjective.

Tough call. I am leaning against him being worthy. As mentioned, he did beat Norris, which is a big plus in his favor. However, he got beat fairly decisively in the rematch. McGirt beat him fairly easily as well. The loss to Starling was a little more competitive so no embarrassment there. However, had he beat Starling or McGirt, or won the rematch against Norris he would have a better case.

He had a few other decent wins, but nothing that special. Don't think he did quite enough.