The International Boxing Hall of Fame has announced their ballot for the Class of 2020.  It is a particularly loaded ballot, as the Hall has reduced their wait time to three years.

The full ballot of the Modern Candidates was not released, but they did announce the 12 new eligible former boxers who have been named to the ballot:

They are:

Jorge Arce:  64-8-2-1 49 KO, Mexico.  Former WBO-NABO, WBO, WBC, Lineal Light Flyweight, WBC, WBO Super Flyweight and WBO Bantamweight Champion.

Timothy Bradley Jr.:  33-2-1-1 13 KO, U.S.A.  Former WBC, WBO Light Welterweight and WBO Welterweight Champion.

Vuyani Bungu:  39-5, 19 KO, South Africa.  Former IBF Super Bantamweight, IBO Featherweight Champion.

Joel Casamayor:  38-6-1, 22 KO, Cuba.  Former NABF, WBA, IBA Super Featherweight, WBC, Ring Magazine, Lineal Lightweight Champion.

Diego Corrales:  40-5 33 KO, U.S.A.  Former IBA Intercontinental Lightweight, IBF, IBA, WBO Super Featherweight, WBO, WBC, Ring Magazine, Lineal Lightweight Champion.

Bernard Hopkins:  55-8-2-2 32 KO, U.S.A.  Former IBF, WBA, WBC, Ring Magazine, Lineal, WBO and Undisputed Middleweight and the IBO, Ring Magazine, WBC, Lineal, IBF and WBA Light Heavyweight Champion.

Juan Manuel Marquez:  56-7-1 40 KO, Mexico.  Former WBO-NABO, WBA, NABF, USBA, WBA, Ring Magazine, USBA, IBF, WBO Featherweight, WBC Super Featherweight, Ring Magazine, Lineal, WBA, WBO Lightweight and WBO Welterweight Champion.

Sergio Martinez:  51-3-2 28 KO, Argentina.  Former IBO Super Welterweight, WBC, WBO, Ring Magazine, Lineal Middleweight Champion.

Shane Mosley:  49-10-1-1 41 KO, U.S.A.  Former IBF Lightweight, WBC, IBA, Lineal, WBA Welterweight, WBA, WBC, Ring Magazine, Lineal, IBA Light Middleweight Champion.

Antonio Tarver:  31-6-1-1 22 KO, U.S.A.  Former NABF, USBA, WBC, IBF, WBA, IBO, Ring Magazine Light Heavyweight, IBO Cruiserweight, Champion

Israel Vazquez:  4405 32 KO, Mexico.  Former NABF, IBF, WBC, Ring Magazine, Lineal Super Bantamweight Champion.

This will be the first time that the Hall will have a Women’s section:

The first ballot’s nominees are:

Laila Ali:  24-0 21 KO, U.S.A.  Former IBA, WIBA, IWBF, IBA, WBC Super Middleweight and IWBF Light Heavyweight Champion.

Sumya Anani:  25-3-1 10 KO, U.S.A.  Former WIBA, IBA Super Lightweight, WIBA, GBU, IBA Welterweight Champion.

Ragina Halmich:  54-1-1 16 KO, Germany.  Former IBF Light Flyweight, IBF Flyweight, IBF Super Flyweight Champion.

Holly Holm:  33-2-3 9 KO, U.S.A.  Former IBA, NABF, WIBA, IBA Light Welterweight, WBAN Junior Welterweight, WBA, WBC, GBU, IBA, WIBA, IFBA, WBAN Welterweight and IFBA Light Middleweight Champion.

Susi Kentikan:  36-2-0-1 17 KO, Germany.  Former WBA, WIBF, WBO, WBA GBU Flyweight Champion. 

Christy Martin:  49-7-3 31 KO, U.S.A.  Former WBC Lightweight and WBC Super Welterweight Champion.

Lucia Rijker:  17-0 14 KO, Netherlands.  Former WIBF Super Lightweight and WIBO Junior Welterweight Champion

Jisselle Salandy:  16-0 6 KO, Trinidad and Tobago.  Former WBA, WBC, IWBF, NABC, WBE, IWBA, WIBA, WIBF and GBU Light Middleweight Champion.

Mary Jo Sanders:  25-1-1 8 KO, U.S.A.  Former WBS Super Lightweight, IBA Super Welterweight, WBC Welterweight and IBA Middleweight Champion.

Laura Serrano:  17-4-2 6 KO, Mexico.  Former WIBF Lightweight Champion.

Ana Maria Torres:28-3-3 16 KO, Mexico. Former WBC Super Flyweight Champion.

Anne Wolf:  24-1-0-1 16 KO, U.S.A.  Former IFBA Junior Middleweight, WIBA Light Middleweight, IFBA, WBA, NABA Super Middleweight and WIBA, IBA Light Heavyweight Champion.

Inductees come from the following categories: Modern, Old-Timer, Pioneer, Non-Participant, Observer and Women.

The Class of 2020 will be announced this December.

The Hall of Fame ceremony will take place on June 11-14 in Canastota, New York.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s incoming chairman, John Sykes, has stated that he intends to see the 2020 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Ceremony live on HBO.

This came from an interview that Sykes did with the L.A. Times.  In the piece, he also said that he was looking for the Rock Hall to have more a presence in Los Angeles, and he also promised to connect more with young people.

Sykes was a former executive at MTV and VH1 and he will officially take over on January 1 from Jann Wenner. 

We hope that this comes to fruition as we will certainly be watching!

Milestones are a huge part of what people talk about in terms of athletic Halls of Fame.  As such, it is major news that yesterday Frank Gore, went over 15,000 career rushing yards, in the Buffalo Bills loss to the New England Patriots. This makes Gore the fourth player behind Emmitt Smith, Walter Payton and Barry Sanders to hit that mark.  

Gore has been discussed as a Pro Football Hall of Fame possibility for years but that is a buzz that continues to rise as he defies the odds by continuing to produce at one of the most physically demanding positions in professional sports.  What has always hampered his cause is that he has never been a First Team All-Pro, nor has he ever finished in the top five in Rushing Yards or Rushing Touchdowns.  Basically, we are saying that Frank Gore was never in the conversation as being considered an elite player.

That normally matters, but 15,000 Yards?  That will be hard to ignore.

By the way, he is now 248 Yards behind Barry Sanders for third overall.

Going into this season, we had him ranked at #18 on our Active Player List for future Hall of Fame consideration.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to congratulate Frank Gore for achieving this milestone, and we won’t bet against him achieving more.

Regular visitors of Notinhalloffame.com know that we are slowly working on the top 50 of every major team in the NHL, NBA, NFL and MLB. Once that is done, we intend to look at how each team honor their past players and executive. As such, it is news to us that the Pittsburgh Pirates have announced that they will be creating their own franchise Hall of Fame in 2020.

It was also announced their Steve Blass will be part of the Pirates’ inaugural Hall of Fame Class.

Blass played ten seasons for Pittsburgh where the Pitcher posted a record of 103-76 and earned a World Series Ring in 1971.  Following his playing career, he would become a broadcaster for the team, which began in 1983, a role he still has today.

It is unknown at this time whether or not Blass will be joined by others in the inaugural class, but we suspect there will be more.

The Hall of Fame will be located at PNC Park.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to congratulate Steve Blass for this prestigious honor and the Pittsburgh Pirates for establishing this institution.