Marco Antonio Barrera vs Prince Naseem Hamed

Naseem should have rematched him, I know he would have beat Barrera if he rematched him and stopped Barrera from circling him to avoid his left hook.

 

I just don't think Hamed knew what to do. His basic fundamentals just weren't sound enough.
All the flaws in his game just seemed to be exposed on the night.
Plain and simply one fighter was well rounded and possessed al the basics required.
The other when you cut through all the posing, posturing and bluster basically only brought that freakish power to the table.
It was a no contest.

 

When you watch the Calvo fight you could see that Naseem was broken. I think he genuinely thought he couldn't be beaten and in defeat he couldn't bring himself round. I think Barrera would have knocked him out in a rematch, and Hamed couldn't live with that prospect.

If he thought he was taking himself into the territory of Morales and Barrera he found out he didn't belong there. Which is just as well because Morales would've abused him.

 

Hamed's problem was he made plenty of mistakes and waited for opponents to mistakes to counter. Barrera didn't make any and didn't exchange. Barrera had a gameplan and Hamed just didn't.

 

If Barrera tries to go for the KO he gets knocked out. Barrera was a backfoot boxer from then on in anyway.

Morales would have exchanged with Hamed and likely pay the ultimate price for it.

Just because Hamed lost to Barrera doesn't mean he's a class below MAB and Morales. Morales for instance despite his good nights got a gift against Espadas, got pushed to the limit by the limited Chi and got shut out by Raheem.

 

Good post PP.

 

People make excuses for Hamed for retiring like he had hand problems,he missed his kids,etc but lets be honest his whole gimmick was based on his confidence once he lost that was it,you could see in the Calvo fight that he was mentally not the same,pity naz and Barrera didnt fight in 96 or 97,Naz would have won by Ko,if Junior Jones could have beaten him then so could have Naz..

 

I agree, Naz thought he couldn't be beat, whether that was to do with the power he had or allah or whatever i think he thought he'd never lose and he embarrassed when he did, especially in a fairly one sided fight.
It's a big win for Barrera, Naz was a very live opponent and although i think he had gone backwards from the early days when he was marching through Robinson and the like it was still a great win and performance. Can't say i was surprised when it happened, Barrera was shown on British TV a couple of times on a saturday afternoon and he stood out a mile to me.

The Calvo fight was horrible,although it was a shut out you knew the game was up and then when he resorted to saying he had a cold whilst the crowd jeered him, it was pretty sad and a man with his ego couldn't cope with it.

 

Same as what i think

And i openly pick Hamed over Pacman

 

Some people are having a laugh. Morales would school Naz, and Pac Man would end him. Naz was getting hit by lots of fighters before he encountered Barrera - and I can't see any reason to believe that a post Barrera Hamed would stand up to either Morales or Manny.

The writing was on the wall against Kevin Kelly.

 

Prime for prime I see wild, featherweight Manny, sparked by a ****ing jab against Hussein at what, 122(?!?) being 50-50 in a shoot out with Hamed.

Manny was ragged as **** before he stopped cutting masses of weight.

Morales couldn't even school Daniel 'The Dinosaur' Zaragoza or Guty Espadas' inferior nipper. As talented as Morales was, and I agree he was multi-faceted and nails, he was way too hittable for me to not assume that Naz, Danny Lopez or Sandy Saddler could lamp him one and change the course of the bout.

Not really 'havin a laugh' IMO, I think people mean 'prime for prime' rather than 'if Naz had gone on to fight' so and so.

 

Well it's all about opinions. But if it's prime for prime (rather post Barrera) I still see Naseem having a completely different experience to his previous fights. Then again, opinions are like arseholes - we all have one.

 

I have to agree with you.

Pacquiao and Morales were talented and dogged, but they had severe defensive liabilities, and were flat out not as good fighting on the back foot until they matured. That gives Naz plenty of big chances.

I like Morales of the Barrera II, Jesus Chavez. He's absolutely class. Morales of Zaragoza and Espadas I gets his butt kicked by Hamed.

 

Hamed was harder puncher than Pacquiao.

 

The Prince loaded up on every punch (and boy did he load up), Pac hits you with 3-4 fairly hard and blindingly fast shots at a time, numerous times in any given round. For what it's worth, I'm not a fan of making excuses, but Hamed had got to the point where he was neglecting training a la Tyson, as shown in the documentary made about the fight. That's not to say MAB wouldn't have beaten him anyway, he was just better in every department apart from power and general awkwardness, and Naseem's fundamentals were always non-existent, mainly due to laziness and his belief in his own power. Still, that's what made him the fighter he was, and he brought a razzle-dazzle to the lower weights that is still unmatched.