Is Arturo Gatti Hall of Fame worthy ??

[holmcall]

If Gatti gets in, open the gates becuase here comes the flood.

Really. Who else goes in because Gatti opens the gate? What other fighters are comparable to him in terms of impact on the sport in the last 10 years that wouldn't get in anyway because of other achievements in the ring? As much as I love Shane Mosley, who has a much better resume, Gatti has had more impact on the sport. Gatti has brought more American fans back into boxing than almost anybody I can think of outside of the HW division. He was the face of boxing and the biggest draw on the East Coast for years. He was superb boxers turned blood and guts warrior, one of the most compelling and beloved figures in all of boxing. You would be hard pressed to find a person to say a bad word about Arturo Gatti.

An in regards to the Meldrick Taylor comment from earlier...Meldrick didn't have the impact on the sport that Gatti had. Meldrick was a great fighter and perhaps could have been HoF, but he didn't bring new fans in or create the buzz that Gatti created. He's not an ATG, but I think he's qualifies for the hall based on the McGuigan allowance for exceptional contribution to the sport. I don't think Meldrick Taylor or any other number of fighters comes close to his impact.

Danny "Littel Red" Lopez, Tone DeMarco, Paz, Benn, Eubanks, Collins, Dariuz, Nunn and the following:

South Korean

In-Chul Baek - 1980-1990
Jung-Koo “The Korean Hawk” Chang -1980-1991
In-Jin Chi -1991-2006
Soo-Hwan Hong - 1969-1980
Ki-Soo Kim- 1961-1969 (South Korea's first world boxing champion
Chong-Pal Park- 1977-1988
Myung-Woo “Sonagi” Yuh - 1983-1992

Japanese

Yuri Arbachakov -1990-1997 (alias Yuri Ebihara) Russian born but fought out of Japan and was the first Russian professional boxing champion)[/font]

Hiroyuki Ebihara- 1959-1969
Yoko “Fierce Eagle” Gushiken- 1974-1981Hiroshi Kobayashi - 1962-1971
Masao Ohba - 1966-1973 (Ohba was fatally injured in car accident in 1973Yoshio Shirai- 1943-1952[/font]

Masamori Tokuyama -1994-2006 (North Korean born but fought out of Japan
jiro Watanabe- 1979-1986

]Thai

Sot Chitalada - 1983-1992
Chartchai Chionoi- 1960-1975
Pone Kingpetch - 1954-1966
Muangchai “J-Okay” Kittikasem- 1988-1999
Samart Payakaroon-1982-1994 (Also was a legend of Muay Thai boxing)


Filipino

Luisito “Golden Boy” Espinosa -1984-2005
Rolando “Bad Boy from Dadiangas " Navarrete- 1973-1991
Jesus “The Hawaiian Punch” Salud-1983-2002 (Born in Philippines fights out of the U.S.)
Ben Villaflor - 1966-1976

Ceferino “Pedro” Garcia -1923-1945 (Was first] Filipino-American World Middleweight Boxing Champion inducted into the World Boxing Hall of Fame)

Your move, Ace.