Canasota questions

[Scott9945]

I see your point purely in terms of what he achieved in the ring but for me McGuigan deserves to be in there hands down. His career is intimately linked to the political divsions and sectarion tensions that were occurring in Northern Ireland at he time that he was fighting. He attracted genuine cross community support. There were brief moments of peace when he was in the ring and he brought a divided people closer together at a time of heightened fear.

I'm not understanding what that has to do with being worthy of induction into the boxing HOF. The Irish HOF, maybe. But not the boxing HOF.

[- Ram Raid -]

I'm not understanding what that has to do with being worthy of induction into the boxing HOF. The Irish HOF, maybe. But not the boxing HOF.

Boxing was a floundering sport in Ireland and Northern Ireland at that time. McGuigan gave it a new and captive audience, so he spread an interest in boxing, which is part of the reason that he's in. At the same time he transended the sport by bringing warring communities together. That heightened the prestige of the sport itself because it was through boxing that he was able to do this. Much in the same way that Benny Leonard negated racist beliefs about ***s, or that Jack Johnson was a challenge to racist ideas about black inferiority. Through McGuigan, boxing's social impact was elevated, so he gets acknowledged for that. He gave boxing a meaning beyond the confines of the squared circle. Plus in the ring, as an amateur he won a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in '78 and beat Eusebio Pedroza (who was no slouch) to become the WBA World Champion, and he was an exciting fighter with massive support.

[Boxing Bob]

Stokely, all you state is true. Does that punch McGuigen ticket to the hall? He's there so the answer is yes. In my opinion the hall is for ring accomplishments, Does McGuigen belong on ring accomplishments- fck no!

[IronDanHamza]

The person who should be in the most is Pone Kingpetch IMO.

Others that should;

Eddie Booker
Cocoa Kid
Tiger Jones
Ken Overlin
Lou Salica
Bert Lytell

So many.

The person I feel shouldn't be in the HOF is Willie Pastrano.

[- Ram Raid -]

Stokely, all you state is true. Does that punch McGuigen ticket to the hall? He's there so the answer is yes. In my opinion the hall is for ring accomplishments, Does McGuigen belong on ring accomplishments- fck no!

I agree with you on that count, if the hall of fame was based on ring accomplishments alone then he doesn't get in. But it isn't and nor should it be. Their mission statement is to 'honour and preserve boxings rich heritage'. It's not just about what goes on in the ring, that would make it an all time pound for pound listing and then the likes of Eddie Futch don't get honoured. They could definately be clearer on why a person is being inducted though rather than splitting the inductees into broad categories 'cause like you say McGuigan wouldn't get in. Unless they had a British Isles quota to fill, but that's another point.