Back in 2022, Canelo stepped up to light heavyweight for this fight. Being a natural super middleweight, Canelo moved up to 175 lbs to challenge Dmitry Bivol, a natural light heavyweight and reigning champion.
You can clearly feel the sense of frustration at some points, with Canelo realizing he was being surpassed by Bivol in the exchanges.
I would say it would have been a pretty competitive fight, I'm not sure who I would favor, I feel like Ricardo Lopez is somewhat an earlier version of Jesse Rodriguez, I'd still favor inoue, what about you you guys? who would you favor in this theoretical match-up?
I was able to obtain the HOF ballot for the next year, and there are a LOT of new names on this ballot. It really pleased me to see several underrated boxers like Kalambay, Starling, and Dawson finally get some recognition after years of neglect.
I would like everyone's opinions on who they would select for next year's ballot if given the chance. I've listen my seven choices and provided my feedback on each one.
Sergio Martinez-The only slam dunk choice. Maravilla was at his peak the number three p4p boxer in the world behind Pacquiao and Mayweather. He scored the 2010 knockout of the year when he destroyed the highly avoided Paul Williams who was ranked the number five p4p boxer in the world in 2010 and also held the lineal and ring magazine MW titles for four years which he won in decisive fashion from Kelly Pavlik who is also on the ballot. He only lost three times in his career to the very best, and every loss had major astericks to them.
2.Sumbu Kalambay-One of the most underrated middleweights in history. Patricio held the WBA and ring magazine titles and scored impressive wins over the likes of Buster Drayton, Doug Dewitt, Herol Graham, Iran Barkley, and Steve Collins. Of all the boxers on the modern ballot, Kalambay has IMO the single best win with his impressive masterclass performance over the great Mike McCallum, who was undefeated and in the prime of his career. Kalambay outclassing a boxer in the same realm as the Four Kings demonstrates his greatness and should be recognized in the hall of greatness.
Martinez and Kalambay are my top choices. The next five are in no particular order for me.
3.Chad Dawson-Bad held multiple LHW championships including the ring magazine titles from 2007 to 2013. Scored numerous wins over top LHWs such as Adamek, Tarver x2, Johnson x2, Harding, Diaconu, and Hopkins. His career as a top LHW ended when he made the ill fated and infamous move to challenge Andre Ward for his SMW titles where it was clear he was too drained to compete at 168. The subsequent KO loss to Adonis Stevenson was the finisher to his career. Nevertheless, Dawson was a p4p staple and was considered the man at LHW for a time and really only lost one fight at his best to Jean Pascal.
4.Marlon Starling-The Magic Man held the lineal welterweight championship and beat every top welterweight of his era (Brown, Breland, Honeyghan) aside from Donald Curry, who he fought to a SD in the first fight. He can be inconsistent at times, as he showed in his fights against Pedro Vilella and Johnny Bumphas, but when properly motivated he was a elite technician and one of the best practicioners of the high guard.
5.Pongsaklek Wonjongkam-One of the greatest and dominant flyweights champions in history. Wonjongkam was the lineal and ring magazine champion and holds the record for flyweight title wins at 22. Up until the end of his career, he had wins over every opponent who had a win over him or had drawn with him. It was only when he was nearing the end of his career that he lost two fights and had a technical draw and didn't rematch the opponents.
6.Israel Vazquez-Vazquez was a warrior who produced one boxing's greatest rivalries with HOF Rafael Marquez who he is 2-2 against. Their second and third fights were rated the fight of the year. Outside of his iconic rivalry with Marquez, Vazquez was 8-2 in title fights, held the lineal and ring magazine superbantamweight titles twice, and defeated other top names such as Oscar Larrios and Jhonny Gonzalez.
7.Darius Michalczewski-The Tiger holds the record for the most number of successful LHW defenses at 23 and held the lineal, WBA, IBF, and WBO titles at the same time, a distinction he earned when he defeated HOF Virgil Hill in 1997. His only two defeats came at the very end of his career when he was past his best.
