Who are the active fighters that have already done enough to be Hall of Famers?
Here are 10 men I believe have punched their Canastota ticket
Induction weekend for the International Boxing Hall of Fame was dubbed the “Trilogy” because three years worth of classes — 2020, 2021 and 2022 — were enshrined together. The giant ceremony on Sunday was necessary because the previous two were canceled due to the pandemic.
It made for an historic weekend culminating with the induction ceremony inside the arena at Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona, New York, which is just a few minutes from the HOF in Canastota. I had the great joy to be at ringside covering more than 100 fights involving the nine men who were inducted in the modern men’s category and I voted for all of them:
Class of 2020: Bernard Hopkins (covered 23 fights), Shane Mosley (17), Juan Manuel Marquez (14).
Class of 2021: Floyd Mayweather (18), Wladimir Klitschko (8), Andre Ward (7).
Class of 2020: Miguel Cotto (26), Roy Jones Jr. (7), James Toney (4).
These three classes represent a huge chunk of my career. I have spent countless hours writing hundreds of thousands of words about them and traveling thousands of miles as I chronicled their careers and lives.
Now, as I scan the landscape of today’s active fighters, there are several I believe that have already fashioned careers that should land them in the Hall of Fame. There are others who, based on their current trajectory, are on track.
Here is my view of the 10 active male boxers I believe have already done enough to warrant election. If you’re favorite fighter isn’t here it doesn’t mean he won’t get in or get my vote. It merely means I am not yet 100 percent convinced that he’s locked down HOF status.
My list is of guys who already have (in alphabetical order):
Canelo Alvarez (57-2-2, 39 KOs)
Status: Lineal/undisputed super middleweight champion
Age: 31
Case for election: The biggest star of his era also is the most accomplished. Over the last decade, Alvarez has won world titles in four divisions — junior middleweight, middleweight, super middleweight and light heavyweight — and faced one quality opponent after another in some of boxing’s biggest events. He was the consensus fighter of the year in 2019 and 2021 and topped most pound-for-pound lists from 2019 until earlier this year. He has unified belts at junior middleweight and middleweight and is now the only undisputed super middleweight champion in division history, collecting all four belts by rolling through undefeated titleholders Callum Smith, Billy Joe Saunders and Caleb Plant in 11 months between December 2020 and November 2021.
Alvarez has also beaten top opponents such as Gennadiy Golovkin (going 1-0-1 in two controversial results with a third fight set for Sept. 17), Miguel Cotto, Sergey Kovalev, Daniel Jacobs, Erislandy Lara, Austin Trout and Shane Mosley (granted, a faded version). His only losses were decisions in world title fights to Floyd Mayweather and Dmitry Bivol (in May).