Class of 2026 Part 1: How I voted for the International Boxing HOF
I'm a longtime elector and this year cast ballots in 5 categories: modern men, modern women, non-participants, observers and old-timers
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For nearly 25 years I have had the great privilege of voting for the International Boxing Hall of Fame in various categories. I grew up about 90 minutes from Canastota, New York, the site of the HOF, and have visited the museum many times beginning when I was in high school.
When I had my first job as a sportswriter for the daily newspaper in Saratoga Spring, New York, 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 regularly build time into my travel schedule and stop at the HOF, which is right off the highway, to spend some time at the museum.
To go on to become an elector — the notion of which never crossed my mind in those days — is 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, to which I have dedicated almost all of my professional life, with my votes. But it is also a thankless task because there are hard choices that must be made. Often there are more worthy candidates than we are allowed to vote for and even fewer are elected.
I do the best that I can. I take it seriously. I do my homework. I review the candidates’ resumes. I sometimes seek opinions from those in the sport I respect. And I 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 2026 will be announced. Induction weekend will take place June 11 to June 14 with the induction ceremonies scheduled for June 14 at Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona, New York, which is about a 10-minute drive from the Hall of Fame grounds in Canastota. If you are a boxing fan, Hall of Fame weekend is a wonderful event and something that belongs on the bucket list of every fight fan.
With the voting done, I will now reveal how I voted in each of the five categories I participated in this year. I will cover the first two categories — modern men and modern women — in today’s part 1. See below for my detailed explanation of my votes, others I considered and photos of my final official ballots I sent back to the HOF.
Modern men
There were 42 names on the this year’s ballot, including three newcomers — former unified middleweight champion Gennadiy Golovkin, former welterweight and junior middleweight champion Vernon Forrest and Steve Collins, who won the WBO middleweight and super middleweight titles. They replaced the three who came off the ballot after being elected last year: Manny Pacquiao, Michael Nunn and Vinny Paz.
There were about a dozen candidates I thought about voting for, some more than others, but electors are only allowed to vote for five. And even voting for five, only three are elected (or anyone who receives more than 80 percent of the roughly 200 votes or if there is a tie for third).
When it came to the newcomers, Golovkin was a no-brainer. There was no serious studying needed to cast that very obvious vote. If I have to explain to you why I voted for him that is a you problem. If you are an elector and did not vote for GGG, especially with five votes available, I seriously question your qualifications to hold a vote.
As for Forrest, who was murdered in 2009, I have long advocated for his inclusion on the ballot and was very pleased that after so many years he was added. I covered his career extensively and he at least deserves to be voted on even though I did note vote for him this year but did strongly consider him. Collins is also a worthy addition considering his contemporaries, Nigel Benn and Chris Eubank Sr., who he defeated twice each in world title bouts, have been on the ballot for several years. That said, he fell short in my eyes of receiving my vote, although I have ample respect for his accomplishments.
I cast all five of my allowable votes, one for Golovkin and four for holdovers from past years. Each is worthy of being elected based on what they did in the ring. Here is how I voted (alphabetically):
