The Ballot is Cast...for the Hall of Fame

Sharing one voter's picks for the International Boxing Hall of Fame Class of 2025

Happy Halloween to all the readers at the Corner Stool.

While the kids are out saying trick or treat, October 31 also marks the deadline for voters for the International Boxing Hall of Fame to submit their annual votes. The ballot that always gets the most attention, in the Modern category, featured one sure superstar and every ballot should have lent him their checkmark.

Manny Pacquiao was one of the biggest stars in the history of the sport. His place in history is hard to overstate. He was:

• The first fighter to lay claim to lineal titles in four weight classes (flyweight, feather, Jr. lightweight, and Jr. lightweight);

• The only fighter, combining alphabet titles and lineal crowns, to have championship claims in eight classes;

• The BWAA Fighter of the Decade for the 2000s;

• A sitting Senator in the Philippines during his career; and,

• One half of the richest fight of all time

That’s just a few of the accolades he accumulated in a storied career that saw him compete as a teenage Jr. flyweight and a middle-aged welterweight. Pacquiao would be an easy choice any year. He’s even easier in this one.

The voting parameters don’t stop at one. Voters can select five choices with the top three vote getters guaranteed enshrinement. Along with Pacquiao, this voter selected:

Why the other four?

Antonio Tarver followed his first career loss, a decision versus contender Eric Harding, with one of the most impressive runs at light heavyweight since Michael Spinks. In a ten-fight span from 2001-05, Tarver went 8-2, unified two alphabet titles, won a pair of Ring Magazine crowns, and basically cleaned out 175 pounds. He avenged the Harding loss, defeated former titlists in Reggie Johnson and Montell Griffin, and split two fights with a red hot Glen Johnson.

Oh…and he beat Roy Jones Jr. While Jones had a previous disqualification loss to Griffin, no one had ever really defeated him. After losing a hotly debated first contest, Tarver knocked Jones, the greatest fighter of his time, out for one of the most memorable wins of the modern era. Feel free to debate where Jones was in his decline. He’d never come close to losing. Tarver pushed him to the brink and then pushed him over. He also won their rubber match. That four year run was worthy of the Hall of Fame.

Michael Nunn was a lineal king at middleweight and super middleweight and, while he suffered a long decline, he was for roughly three years the best middleweight in the world. Wins over Frank Tate, Iran Barkley, Juan Roldan, and welterweight champion Marlon Starling were variably entertaining but all of quality. Nunn’s knockout of Sumbu Kalambay was both sensational in style and elite in opponent. Nunn can be seen by some as an underachiever considering what followed his early run but looking at the ballot his best wins are better than all but a couple names available.

Israel Vazquez was a two-time lineal king at Jr. featherweight best remembered for his first three epic fights with Rafael Marquez. He was more than that. Vazquez also won a classic war with Johnny Gonzalez and came out 2-1 in his trilogy with the very good Oscar Larios. All of the first three Marquez fights, the Gonzalez scrap, and the second bout with Larios, can all be ranked with the very best fights of their time and Vazquez earned a place with the all-time great Jr. featherweights.

Sot Chitalada was the best flyweight in the world during the second half of the 1980s. He split fights with the great Jung-Koo Chang, avenged a disputed loss to Yong Kang Kim, and bested tough outs like Charlie Magri and Gabriel Bernal.

Are these the only five fighters on the ballot worth induction? Absolutely not. Wilfredo Vazquez, Santos Laciar, Pongsaklek Wonjongkam, Gilberto Roman and Sung-Kil Moon among others are also worthy. With only five votes, this is where the ballot settled this time around.

All members of the BWAA vote in the modern category but other ballots are available by request if the IBHOF concurs. This voter also elects in the category for Old Timers.

Peter Kane would be the number one pick here if this were a draft. A star in the 1930s and 40s in the UK, Kane is long overdue for induction. He won the flyweight crown briefly and is best recalled for his rivalry with the great Benny Lynch. During research for the Ring Magazine 100th Anniversary issue, Kane’s career jumped out among an assemblage of greats with nearly two-dozen wins over opponents ranked in the Ring Top Ten, largely at flyweight or bantamweight, when Kane defeated them.

Harry Jeffra was considered a Hall of Fame long ago, inducted by the now-defunct Ring Magazine Hall of Fame. The IBHOF voters haven’t caught up yet. They should. Jeffra won his series with rival Sixto Escobar and was a champion at bantamweight and featherweight when two divisions was still a hell of a mountain to climb.

Esteban De Jesus was the second best lightweight of his era and the only lightweight to defeat Roberto Duran in their first of three fights. He was more than Duran’s foil with impressive wins over Ray Lampkin (twice), Guts Ishimatsu (for the WBC title), and Edwin Viruet.

Rafael Herrera ended the bantamweight title days of Ruben Olivares in 1972 and proved it was no fluke when he beat him again in a non-title rematch months later. If beating a man who some regard as the greatest bantam of all time wasn’t enough, Herrera also had wins over Rodolfo Martinez, Chucho Castillo, and Romeo Anaya among others.

Finally, Lou Salica was an Olympic bronze medalist, bantamweight world champion, and one of the stalwart little men of the 1930s and 40s. His record is a who’s who of his time with wins over Sixto Escobar, Tony Olivera, Manuel Ortiz, Jackie Jurich, and Midget Wolgast.

Speaking frankly, the Old Timers ballot is deeper and tougher to choose from than the Modern category. There are certainly other fighters meriting election. Time will handle that.

For now, this is what went in the mail. Readers are invited to discuss these choices, and what they would have landed on, in the comments.

Again, Happy Halloween.