JCC was In no way, no how a welterweight.

Chavez was not a WW like Pac and PBF aren't. Tito, like SRR and SRL, was a natural welter so Chavez avoiding a fight with him (and certainly Norris above him) is forgivable, as I say in my orginal post. Thats no crime and doesn't deserve a demerit.

However, doing so and doing well would earn extra-credit. Holfyield made a career fighting above his weight, as is PacMan today. Hearns was much bigger than SRL and SRL was bigger than Duran. So serious props to Duran for beating SRL in SRLs territory. JCC lacks such an accomplishment...which would mitigate against the failure to fight some of the top smaller guys.

Sweat Pea, Taylor, Azumah, McGrirt, and Randall were all the proper size for Chavez. They all fought at WW but they came up to that division and were small welters like Chavez. They all were at or around their peak roughly around when JCC was at his.

I consider this group to be the upper-echelon. (ODLH, Tito, Simon Brown, and Norris were too but they were either bigger and/or peaked when JCC was in decline. So they are discounted). At the end of the day, for someone to be a 1st ballet HOF they would have to stand out against the top available fighter of the day, IMO.

These 5 represent that. They also represent the meat of my argument. I believe, for the reasons stated, JCCs peformance against the top 5 was not impressive enough to warrant first ballet honors.