Class of 2024 Part 2: How I voted for the International Boxing HOF
I am a longtime elector and this year cast ballots in four categories: modern men, modern women, non-participants and observers
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For more than 20 years I have had the privilege of voting for the International Boxing Hall of Fame. I grew up only about 90 minutes from Canastota, New York, site of the HOF, and have visited the museum many times beginning when I was in high school and college.
When I had my first newspaper job in the early 1990s I would often have to drive to places like Syracuse or Rochester to cover a high school state playoff game in whatever sports season was going on and I would often build time into my travel schedule and stop at the HOF, which is right off the highway, to look around for a bit.
So to now be an elector all these years later, I consider it a tremendous honor and I look forward to receiving the ballots each fall. I also dread it.
It’s an honor because I get to be a small part of shaping the history of the great sport of boxing with my votes. But it is also a thankless task because there are more worthy candidates than we are allowed to vote for and even fewer are elected. But I do the best that I can. I take it seriously. I do my homework. I review the candidates’ resumes. I also go by my own decades of experience covering boxing and knowing most of the people I vote for.
I sent my ballots back before the Oct. 31 deadline and on Thursday the results of the election for the class of 2024 will be revealed. The induction ceremonies will take place at the museum on June 9 during the annual HOF induction weekend. It is an event that should be on the bucket list of every boxing fan.
In Part 1, I revealed my votes and reasons for my votes in the modern men’s and modern women’s categories. Here, in Part 2, I will reveal how I voted in the two additional categories I cast ballots in: non-participants and observers. See below for my detailed explanation of my votes and photos of my official ballots.
Non-participants
From the 29-person ballot, electors can vote for up to five candidates and the top three will be elected. This is always a tough category because it covers so many different roles in the sport, including trainers, promoters, matchmakers, referees, judges, publicists, ring announcers, cutmen, etc.
Not that it is a hard rule I have, but all things being equal I usually try to vote for the most deserving (in my view) person in each realm, meaning a trainer, a promoter, a publicist, that sort of thing.
It was difficult not voting for, among others, trainer/cutman Miguel Diaz, trainer Abel Sanchez, legendary German trainers Fritz Sdunek and Ulli Wegner, WBO president Paco Valcarcel and Rudy Battle, a top referee for decades. There are many deserving people on the ballot.
Here is how I voted (alphabetically):