because he had 1 super fight and lost miserably. then he quit like a ***** afterwards without trying to avenge his embarrassing ass kicking
who knows. but he should be in it. no doubt. was more accomplished than gatti and a more elite fighter.
Hard to argue with this post though he does have solid wins against Ingle, Kelley, Cabrera and Johnson. All of these guys were highly regarded fighters at the time.
He never got his ass kicked. The HOF is largely bull**** but Hamed deserves to be in it more than some of the others already inducted.
What constitutes an ass kicking in your mind. Despite being a 3-1 favorite, he lost on all 3 judges scoring cards 116-111, 115-112, 115-112 with a point deducted from Barrerra in the 12th for a foul or the score would have been wider. MAB made Hamhead look the fool in the ring that night, so much so, he only had 1 more fight and retired. I'll agree the HOF is more a popularity contest and there are guys in there that are below the talent he possessed. He'll eventually get in, but he got his ass kicked that night.
To be fair, you could probably fill 20 Hall of Fames with fighters more accomplished than Gatti. If that's going to be used as the new measuring stick you might as well take a wrecking ball to the place. Hamed hasn't been inducted because: 1) He doesn't have a career defining win 2) He isn't a darling of the (predominantly American) voters I think he probably should (and will) get in at some point, but it isn't an outrage that he isn't there. It's the price he pays for carefully selecting opponents and then clearly losing against the only great fighter he faced.
It's a Hall of Fame, not a Hall of Adoration. For a time, Naz was indeed one of the most famous boxers in the world - including here in the USA. Everybody knew who he was, love him or hate him. (mostly the latter :yep) If renown were the criteria, he'd be in. Your point about the career defining win is valid, and the biggest obstacle to him getting in along with a lack of real longevity at the pinnacle of competition to offset that absence of a signature name. (although he beat a few very good fighters, and did nurse the major albeit lightly regarded WBO belt for a respectable length of time clocking over half a decade)
Regardless of all the hate on him, he is a worthy hall of famer. Naseem Hamed has his own self taught style that he had first started boxing at age 7. Someone like Marco Antonio Barrera worked by the general rules of boxing like all other great fighters, Hamed broke so many rules yet still was a world champion defending his title against many good fighters. - That, is talent. + He was huge in Yemen and Arabia in general, as well as Britain. He also was a huge figure in boxing in USA, and was a great entertainer.
He will get in eventually. To think dude is just 38 years old. <~ (old now) What a waste of talent retiring/Last fight was in 2002.
If talent was the criteria, then how does a Jake LaMotta type fighter get in? Is willing to take more punches than the other guy in the hope you'll eventually stop him count as talent? I think Naseem will eventually get in, but his record is good, not great. He set too much stall in his WBO title IMO.