At last, reform has come to the International Boxing Hall of Fame ballot.
For years and years, I have advocated for change, and, at long last, those in charge of the Canastota, New York, shrine, namely executive director Ed Brophy, have finally listened.
The new-look ballots for the class of 2015 began arriving for voters to review this week and there were major -- and welcome -- changes ahead of the June 14 inductions.
The category that gets the most attention is for modern fighters, for which, as a full member of the Boxing Writers Association of America, I have been voting in for about 12 years. And until this year, many of the same fighters who never had a chance of being elected populated the ballot year in and year out.
That is because the Hall of Fame defined the modern category as being for boxers who had their final fight no earlier than 1943. So the 45-person ballot was very stagnant. Because every year the top three vote-getters would be elected, only three new names would replace them. It caused a massive logjam of fighters not getting on the ballot, especially many of the stars of the 1980s and 1990s who are at least deserving of a chance to be voted on.
With this year's change, all the fighters from the modern category who had been on the ballot whose last fight was in 1988 or earlier were moved to the old-timer category, which used to end in 1942.
The old-timer category has also been split in two, with an "early" era (last bout no earlier than 1893 and no later than 1942) and a "late" era (last bout no earlier than 1943 and no later than 1988). Each old-timer era will be voted on every other year.
In addition, the modern ballot was cut from 45 to 30 fighters, and instead of being able to vote for up to 10 fighters, now the maximum is five. As always, three will be elected.
While I am quite pleased with the change of the cutoff years, I still maintain that having the top three get elected is not the right way to go. I support a percentage system like the ones used in baseball, football and hockey. For example, to earn election into the baseball Hall of Fame, a player must receive at least 75 percent of the vote.
If no player reaches the threshold (which is rare), so be it. If that means the voters find 10 worthy candidates to elect, so be it. The boxing Hall of Fame system means three fighters with puny support could still get in during a weak year just because they got the most votes, and that just waters things down in my view. I get that there are economic concerns -- if nobody got elected it would kill the induction weekend turnout -- but that doesn't make it right.
With the big change this year, it means that there are 20 first-timers on the ballot compared to the usual three. It's a lot to absorb with ballots due back by Oct. 31. There are 10 holdovers with the rest being moved to the old timer ballot.
Brophy, who does not embrace change easily, agreed that it was necessary.
"After 25 years of honoring the best in the sport of boxing, the Hall of Fame's goal is to maintain the process that bestows boxing's highest honor to those who have excelled in the sweet science," he said.
Last year's class of modern fighters was an easy call. All three newcomers on the ballot were elected, Oscar De La Hoya, Felix Trinidad and Joe Calzaghe. They were all no-brainer, first-ballot guys. It was perhaps the easiest ballot I ever filled out.
This year? It's the opposite, with the crush of new candidates to review, none of whom I believe is a slam dunk for election.
The 10 holdovers on this year's ballot are: Donald Curry, "Prince" Naseem Hamed, Santos Laciar, Miguel "Happy" Lora, Henry Maske, Darius Michalczewski, Sven Ottke, Samuel Serrano, Wilfredo Vazquez Sr. and Hilario Zapata.
The 20 newcomers are: Paulie Ayala, Nigel Benn, Riddick Bowe, Chris Eubank, Leo Gamez, Genaro Hernandez, Julian Jackson, Rocky Lockridge, James "Buddy" McGirt, Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini, Sung-Kil Moon, Michael Moorer, Orzubek "Gussie" Nazarov, Vinny Pazienza, Lupe Pintor, Gilberto Roman, Gianfranco Rosi, Ratanapol Sor Vorapin, Meldrick Taylor and Fernando Vargas.
There are plenty of names to discuss and a ballot bound to cause headaches for voters. Many of us asked for these changes, so maybe we should be careful what we wish for.
For years, I have voted for Hamed, the massive punching, loud-mouthed former featherweight champion. I will continue to do so until he takes his rightful place in the HOF. I've already passed on the other holdovers time and again. I will review them again but I don't see myself changing my mind.
Of the newcomers, there are some who jump out as good candidates at first glance -- Hernandez, Bowe, Benn, Pintor, Nazarov and Eubank -- but none are the kind of names you can mark off without hesitation. That's why I think when the results are announced, we may be in for some surprises.
Those of us who vote have our work cut out for us over the next couple of weeks. For anyone who wants to do some basic homework on the candidates, head over to the BWAA website, where four of our dedicated members, Cliff Rold, Lee Groves, Jack Obermayer and Springs Toledo, did a fantastic job of compiling bios at www.bwaa.us/2014/10/10/2015-international-boxing-hall-of-fame-nominees.
In another change, the pioneer category (last bout in or prior to 1892) will no longer involve an annual election. Instead, that category will come up for election every five years, so the next one won't be until the Hall of Fame's 30th anniversary in 2019.
Now, let me get back to my ballot -- but not until I take something for this headache it's causing.