When the International Boxing Hall of Fame released the names of new nominees for the ballot for the Class of 2025, Manny Pacquiao was the one no-brainer. The former Filipino senator and presidential candidate went from extreme poverty to becoming one of the greatest boxers in the history of the sport.
Pacquiao had to put rocks into his pocket as a teen-ager at a weigh-in to reach 100 pounds so he could box. He went one to become one of the sport's most known stars and won recognized world championships in an astounding eight weight classes.
He sought out every challenge and ducked no one. He has wins over Hall of Famers Oscar De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton, Miguel Cotto, Shane Mosley, Timothy Bradley, Juan Manual Marquez, Marco Antonio Barrera and Erik Morales.
More impressively, perhaps, he was lineal champion -- The man who beat the man -- at flyweight, featherweight, super featherweight, super lightweight and welterweight.
Pacquiao will be one of the inductees in Canastota, N.Y., on June 8. Bank on that.
The only question is if the Filipino legend will hit 100 percent. The guess here is that there are some who cling to this foolish notion that an athlete shouldn't make it on the first ballot and won't vote for him. Whatever percentage he receives, though, he's going to get in and he'll be the leading vote-getter.
But even many close to former two-division world champion Vinny Paz are not nearly as optimistic that "The Pazmanian Devil" will receive induction.
He doesn't have anywhere near the resume Pacquiao has. Paz was 50-10 with 30 knockouts and held world titles at lightweight and super welterweight. There are a lot of fighters, very good ones, who have accomplished more.
But Paz is a guy whose impact transcends his sheer numbers. On Nov. 12, 1991, Paz was involved in a horrible automobile accident in which he suffered a broken vertebra in his back and two fractured vertebrae in his neck. He was told he would never fight again. There was question if he'd ever walk again.
Paz was 31-5 at the time and had just stopped Gilbert Dele to win the WBA super welterweight title. He was one of the sport's most popular, and bankable stars.
He was told he wouldn't fight again, but he never accepted the dire diagnosis. He began to work out in secret in his mother's basis, always believing he'd make it back. And on Dec. 15, 1992, he did. In a remarkable recovery, Paz returned to defeat Luis Santana in Mashantucket, Conn., by unanimous decision to begin his career's second act.
After the injury, he didn't win another world title, though he was stopped by the legendary Roy Jones Jr. on June 24, 1995, in an IBF super middleweight title fight and dropped a decision to Eric Lucas on March 1, 2002, in a bid for the WBC super middleweight belt.
In Act II, Paz went a pedestrian 19-5 with five KOs, but did post two wins over Roberto Duran and single wins over Santana, Lloyd Honeyghan, Robbie Sims, Dana Rosenblatt and Glenwood Brown.
Had Paz done this without an accident, it would have been a nice career but nowhere near enough to qualify him for induction into the Hall of Fame.
But when you add the perseverance, dedication and sheer chutzpah that Paz showed in working his way back, and then defeating the high level of fighters he did, it changes the view dramatically.
Yes, Manny Pacquiao is the one no-brainer among this group.
Careful consideration of all of the facts should be enough to get Paz elected into the Hall of Fame, as well.
Vinny Paz X account
Vinny Paz returned to boxing 13 months after being involved in a horrific auto accident that doctors said would mean the end of his boxing career.