Please consider signing this petition for the International and World Boxing Hall of Fame to consider the induction of Chris Eubank, Michael Watson and Nigel Benn into the Boxing Hall of Fame. Read on for more information.

Being a boxing fan who isn’t from the USA, I cannot help but feel that the International Boxing Hall of Fame in New York, and the World Boxing Hall of Fame in California are systematically undermining the achievements of potential Non-US Boxing Hall of Famer candidates.

I am only able to truly speak about my own experiences here from the United Kingdom, but I would say that Chris Eubank, Nigel Benn and Michael Watson are all entirely valid nominees for their respective accomplishments. The thing is these three men really do come to the Hall of Fame as a trio who are inextricably linked to one another.

A quick overview of some of their achievements:

Chris Eubank - 52 Fights, 45 Wins (23 KO), 5 Losses, 2 Draws.
- Undefeated for ten years.
- Two wars with Nigel Benn, Two wars with Michael Watson and also a game contest at the end of his career with Joe Cazaghe.
- 42,000 capacity in old trafford stadium to watch Eubank vs Benn.

Nigel Benn - 48 Fights, 42 Wins (35 KO), 5 Losses, 1 Draw
- Multi-world champion at Super and Middleweight Division.
- Many classic match-ups, including Eubank, Watson and McClellan.
- McClellan has been inducted into the boxing hall of fame when he was defeated in a brutal contest against Nigel Benn. We all know what happened to Gerald and our hearts go out to him, but nonetheless the Boxing Hall of Fame is there to celebrate the fighters.

Michael Watson - 30 Fights, 25 Wins (21 KO) 4 Losses, 1 Draw.
- Never became a world champion. His career ended prematurely as a result of a near-fatal head injury sustained in a WBO super-middleweight title fight defeat in a rematch with Chris Eubank in September 1991.
- It is commonly accepted (even by Eubank) that Watson was the finer fighter, and Eubank has talked at length about the dissension by some commentators and supporters, and his own feelings of awe against Watson’s skills.
- Watson knocked out Nigel Benn, who knocked out Gerald McClellan, who is currently in the Hall of Fame.
- Watson sued the British Boxing Board of Control (BBBoC) and was instrumental in bringing about a global improvement in the medical provisions in place for a boxing match.
- In April 2003, Michael Watson walked the London Marathon for four hours a day for six days, raising money for the Brain and Spine Foundation who had saved his life after the boxing bout. Expected to never have regained any of his faculties resulting from the head trauma he suffered, neurosurgeons have declared that Watson’s recovery has been nothing short of a miracle.
- In 2004, Watson was awarded the MBE by H.M. Queen Elizabeth II, who told him that she had personally heard of and followed his achievements.

And so dismayed that the boxing heroes of my youth were potentially being overlooked, I submitted my query to an American friend who happens to both a boxing fan and a mathematician.
And this was his findings:

Dear Fantastic Mr Fix,

I took a sample of the first ten Modern boxers in the Hall who had short careers (in terms of the number of fights) and sampled their data. I kept the sample honest (selected by total number of fights), and kept the total number of fights between 55 and 45.

The statistical average fighter in the IBHOF should look like this:

Statistical average IBHoF fighter:
48.4 Total Fights
42.4 Wins
5.3 Losses
0.7 Tie
32.9 KO's

Chris Eubank:
52 Total Fights (Above avg. by %7)
45 Wins (Above avg. by %6)
5 Losses (better than avg by %6)
2 Ties (worse avg by %35) - forgivable, draw is uncommon.
- a fine pugilist, all stated.

Of the boxers the test data was taken from, the national representation breaks down as below:

USA 3 (%30), Mexico 2 (%20), Puerto Rico 2 (%20), Thailand 1 (%10), Panama 1 (%10), Ghana 1 (%10)

Your claim of bias may have merit! Eighty percent of the cross sample are from the Western Hemisphere. This could have something to do with the location of the IBHOF, in New York (and the WBHOF in California). But before we get excited, we should note that boxers are inducted by being weighed against their peers who were selected from a pool for a "class of the year"... Unfortunately, this can mean that modern boxers are weighed against the ancient ones. Still, that means I should take a sample of all the boxers the committee inducted in 2003 (five years retirement required for eligibility):

Fred Apostoli 61–10–1 (31 KO) United States
Curtis Cokes 62–14–4 (30 KO) United States
George Foreman 76–5–0 (68 KO) United States
Nicolino Locche 117–4–14 (14 KO) Argentina
Mike McCallum 49–5–1 (36 KO) Jamaica

Avg Career Fights: 84
Avg Record: 73-7-4

Eubank Actual Record: 45-5-2
Eubank Adjusted Record: 73-8-3

(Eubank Adjusted Record = Eubank, adjusted for longer career using his percentages applied to 84 fights just for fun. Decimals were rounded to nearest whole number.)

Americans occupy 60% of the 2003 inductees and yet they are STATISTICALLY bested by all three of your missing Englishman. THIS AMERICAN IS SOLD! THE IBHOF IS BIASED!

So please do look into the careers of these three warriors before/after you vote if you’re unaware who they are. And if you’re a fan of the sport then you will see some of the most thrilling contests in recent memory. All three of these men showed more heart, grit, emotion, character and athleticism in their careers than many of the “greats” before or since and they finally deserve to be immortalized for their achievements.