Well no one was beating him at his best, but the Naz of the last 2-3 years could be vulnerable to the odd defeat, only prime ATG's are beating a below par version
A bit overrated while active, and now he's underrated. He had a pretty good run untell Barrera beat him.
Sorry mate,but there were a few fighters who could have got decisions over a prime Hamed. And even though JMM was a different fighter then,there was a good reason the WBO stopped that fight from happening. Naz was a huge money spinner for them in those days.
Curious as to when you think this "invincible" Naz existed? He looked vulnerable in many fights before Barrera. A mediocrity like Alicea had him down, Medina gave him all he could handle, Johnson put him down and wobbled him, he was all over the place against Kelley, and was dragged into a war against Sanchez. He looked far from unbeatable against Soto, Ingle and McCullough. There wasn't a single period in his career where he was consistently dominant against world class opposition. His best performance (as opposed to 'win') was probably against Badillo, but this was followed up by the Kelley fight. From that point on I think he first started to have doubts about whether he was as unbeatable as he once believed, and there was a gradual decline from that point. The common denominator in that list is that there isn't a single great fighter amongst them, and if you want to be picky even the "very good" types were past their best. Although he was clearly on the slide when Barrera beat him, there isn't really anything to suggest that the result would be any different for a "prime" Hamed.
He was very good. Ability-wise, up in there with Morales, Barrera and co if you ask me. Maybe a bit worse overall but still in the same league. One UD loss to Barrera doesn't say it all. Shame we didn't get to watch Hamed trying to rebound from that. On the other hand his style was based on tremendous athletic ability and is the worst one when it comes to aging so it's even possible that at 27 he was at the beginning of the decline already.
prime nassem was p4p king candidate. a prince who would have trained hardcore all along, with a world class trainer to not teach him offence, where he was a master regardless, but touch him defence as well and when and when not to throw a punch would have made him one of the best boxers ever. the god given punch, the athletic ability, the movemant and the speed, he had it all for sure :smoke
he was not even training for this one. did you see the prince docu about him, during training camp vs barrera. hamed was so unfocused. I never saw him run, do conditioning for this fight. he was playing golf, fooling around, having fun, but look at somebody like pacquiao, when he trains it looks like his life is depending from a training session. prince never liked to train and he could knock you out without training hardcore, because he had that super punch. sadly only having good movemants and a world class punch doesnt give you a win, when you face all time greats like barrera or morales.
HOF candidate for sure. Didnt like him at the time, but have respect for his in ring ability. A true twat outside the ring though.
He never ran..period. he didnt believe in it. Dont blame him. What can you do pounding the pavement that you cant do in the boxing gym, hitting the bag.mitts and sparring
running or swimming gives you better condition, any world class fighter does it. ask marquez, pacquiao, mayweather or any other p4p great, they all do run. it encreases your condition, by running long distances and gives you an advantage in later rounds when condition goes away. "didnt believe in running" atsch he was just to lazy to do it, like I said, he did not like training. had he trained right, with the physic he had, he would be remembered as a p4p king and not barreras victim.
Did you watch the fights or just check the record? Alicia was a flash knockdown. He wasn't hurt at all, against Kevin Kelley who was a massive puncher he was never really hurt and took punches with his chin up, off balance and his hands down. Yet he got straight back up and went on the attack. Then when he caught Kelley that was power! Also he went to show America how exciting he was in this fight (I think he showed everyone). I know it sounds like an excuse but he had the flu against medina so some would say an impressive win as medina was still a top level fighter for years after. I would say he was already in decline by the likes of mccolough and ingle etc., as he had stopped training and was no longer motivated. Also some day when his brothers took over the management became more interested in the money etc. someone earlier compared him very aptly to Tyson, both had a lot of yes men around them.
Great fighter with an awkward style yet beast punching power. His lack of discipline and interest in the later years were his downfall.