The British Boxing Forum's 'What if?' Thread

What if.....Naz had stayed at Bantamweight and fought Wayne McCullough for the title there? And then faced Nana Konadu, Daorung Chuvatana and Veeraphol Sahaprom, and then fought Tapia, Austin and Ayala in the late 90s?

Naz was ranked no.4 by The Ring in '94 at 118lbs by way of his win over Vincenzo Belcastro for the European title.

1994

Title Vacant
Orlando Canizales
Yasuei Yakushiji
Daorung Chuvatana
Wayne McCullough
Naseem Hamed
Jorge Eliecer Julio
Sergio Reyes
Alfred Kotey
Nana Konadu
Harold Mestre

1995

Title Vacant
Wayne McCullough
Mbulelo Botile
Nana Konadu
Ancee Gedeon
Veeraphol Sahaprom
Jorge Eliecer Julio
Joichiro Tatsuyoshi
Daorung MP Petroleum
Paulie Ayala
Johnny Armour

Naz faced fringe competition at 122lbs and then jumped up to feather to take on Steve Robinson, who was on a roll but nowhere near as formidable as the 188lb division at that time.

1995 (126lbs)

Title Vacant
Tom Johnson
Luisito Espinosa
Manuel Medina
Alejandro Gonzalez
Naseem Hamed
Eloy Rojas
Ever Beleno
Miguel Arrozal
Derrick Gainer
Steve Robinson

But 122lbs was stacked, and Naz evidently didn't want any part of that. In '95, he defended his 'International' WBC title our times against middling opposition, but if you take a look at the rankings for that year you can see why he faced Robinson. He eventually faced Bungu at Feather and beat him with ease, and of course faced Barrera down the line as well. But what if Frank had chucked Hamed in here instead of moving him up to Feather for the WBO? 122lbs was ****in' stacked.

1995 Super Bantamweight

Title Vacant
Marco Antonio Barrera
Vuyani Bungu
Kennedy McKinney
Antonio Cermeno
Daniel Zaragoza
Orlando Canizales
Welcome Ncita
Hector Acero-Sanchez
Erik Morales
Junior Jones

:think

 

Did the above post scare everyone off? :think

Opinions please

 

thats whats put me off a bit i know full well i cant give a rational argument on naz

 

Course you can lads!

Just use fact to back up your opinions and we'll be fine. Seeing as Naz beat Bungu and McCullough up at 126 eventually, that's a starting point for the discussion ;-)

 

And you cannot be 'wrong' :good I'm as stumped as the rest of ya', hence why I made the post :thumbsup

 

I do as well. At that point Morales was too open. Of course with his legendary chin if he can get through the rough moments he'd punch out a decision, but I'm one of the few that considers that a 50-50 matchup.

Naz went for Barrera thinking he'd be an easier target. Big mistake :yep

 

yep

morales was the fight he should of had, far more susceptible to naz`s quick counters

 

What if....

Hagler didn't retire after SRL and instead of having rematches with Hearns and SRL he faced some of the young guns of the MW division. McCallum, Nunn and Kalambay etc. If he didn't slip anymore after SRL and was good as he was in that fight would he have beaten them all?

 

No, Kalambay would've beaten him. I'd rather have seen Ray in with those guys.

Antcull maybe you'll tackle by Naz hypothetical? :good

 

Jesus Don't where to start with that, maybe you could have listed a few less than 30 fighters to get the debate rolling. :nut

One thing I will say is that I don't think Hamed would have had such power at 118 as he did at 126. He was so stocky at FW and that weight was absolutely ideal for his style and he had great success fighting the taller guys.

122 is an interesting one to consider though.

Naz and MAB would have been a GREAT fight at 122 in the late 90s and I would bet MAB would have gone to war instead of boxing. He'd come out on top of a war with Naz though, as would Morales, but Morales would have probably chose to outbox Naz at that stage though.

Always fancied Naz to take care of Junior Jones and Kennedy McKinney. Junior was the better boxer but I was never convinced he could make it through the tough patches and Naz would get to him and hurt him. McKinney just wasn't that good.

Canizales was past in once Naz was on the scene, reckon he'd be stopped on his feet against Naz around 96-97.

Zaragoza is an interesting one that requires far more thought. Can't make my mind up on that yet.

I'll attempt the rest once I got a few beers in me later tonight, already got a headache thinking about this.

 

Also you can't really say "Naz evidently didn't want any part of that.'

Frank was the one who didn't want any part of 122 for Naz, not surprising when he could get a Robinson fight for a world title though.