how good was "prince" naseem?

A revelation who had all the tools to go as far as is possible. Then arrogance reared it's ugly head, and the rest is history.

 

The most overrated fighter I've ever seen.

 

He reached his potential. He got exposed in his biggest fight, against Barrera, then only fought once more and retired.

He was fast and had good power. His defense was pretty shoddy. He relied solely on reflexes for defense, dropping is hands absurdly low, and holding his head high at the same time. No one really took advantage until he fought Barrera.

 

When a fighter has such good reflexes, fast counters and hits like a freight train, it is a pretty daunting task to exploit the holes in his defense.

But it wasn't his unorthodox style that made him so effective -- it was mostly talent. Give him to Ray Arcel and he makes a completely different fighter out of him, and if he keeps disciplined, he had a chance to be even more special.

He routinely relied on his power to carry the day, content to be a spectacular puncher, instead of boxing right. And somewhere along the way he thought he didn't need to do all the work and could just hang back and look for the sneak-punch.

Even so, it took a talent like Barrera putting on one of his most focussed fights to finally dethrone him. That says a lot.

I always wonder about him and Pacquiao. Would be a shootout. Both can dish out better than they can take it. Whoever lands first.

 

Barrera dominated him and he took his bag and went home.
Very good not great.

 

I could not stand the guy, but when he was good - He was very, very good.

 

He used to make my skin creep. That awful dancing and deliberate, bare faced annoyance. Hector Camacho was at least funny. Naseem wriggling his body, pouting after he spoke. despicable arrogance and camp to the core...

But he hit hard.

 

I'm not sure he was really that exposed. Barrera had to really concentrate and fight a clever fight to get through that, he was so much more professional. That's why he really won.

I thought losing to Barrera could have been the making of Naz. Should have woke him up and got him back to his boxing.. He had been a really masterful boxer until he discovered a punch. Once he could knock guys over that was all he wanted to do. Neglected 90% of his talent showing off.

but the Prince was like a spoiled child. Believed his own hype and never really woke up. Total brat. too immature to go back to the drawing board.

 

I'm not sure if the second paragraph is true. He seemed like a guy who wanted out of boxing before even fighting Barrera.

 

Hamed was one of those fighters you wish was knocked out just so he would shut up. It never happened. After he was beaten by Barrea Hamed shut down. He had one more fight then quit the game at age 28 then quickly added weight making it hard for him to stay at feather.

I think he was exposed a bit, and didn't want to risk anything by moving up in class.

I'd recommend watching his fight with Kevin Kelley. That was a good one.

 

I don't think he wanted out of boxing before fighting Barrera. He was still talking about being a legend and talking himself up like always.

I thought Barrera was a wake up call. He was not dominated. It should have shown Naz he was not immortal, that he needed to show boxing more respect, start taking it seriously again rather than project that deluded nonsense about him never being beat because he was a gift from God.

Barrera fought a cautious fight and behaved like a professional to get that win. It was nothing a good fighter could not come back from. but Naseem really believed himself to be a cartoon character from a marvel comic. Reality scared him.

 

Naseem Hamed was an incredible talent. He beat the WBC, WBA, WBO and IBF Featherweight champs in separate fights, but he was never allowed to keep all of the belts because the WBC/WBA/IBF had a rule at the time that one of their champs could NOT simultaneously hold a WBO title.

Since the WBO belt was the one Hamed won first, he was loyal to them. So, when he'd win a WBC belt, for instance, to go along with his WBO belt, the WBC would insist he'd dump the WBO belt ... and Hamed would dump the WBC belt instead. He did that with the IBF title as well.

The WBA was so worried their champ Wilfredo Vasquez would lose the title to Hamed in their unification fight that they stripped Vasquez just days before the fight. Hamed stopped him anyway.

In just 36 pro fights, he faced 10 reigning, former or future champs - Steve Robinson, Manuel Medina, Tom Johnson, Kevin Kelley, Wilfredo Vasquez, Wayne McCullough, Paul Ingle, Cesar Soto, Vuyani Bungu and Marc Antonio Barrera.

After he lost his title to Barrera in the only loss in his career, two guys he beat in title defenses (Ingle and Medina) went on to win versions of the Featherweight title.

Hamed made 15 successful defenses of the featherweight title. I believe that's the second most all-time. And the only guy he lost to (Barrera) - who Hamed was a 3-1 favorite to beat - will also be in the Hall of Fame.

I've always believed that the 9/11 Terrorist Attack in New York and Washington, D.C., which took place a few months after the Barrera fight, impacted Hamed's career greatly in the U.S.

Before that, Hamed was flying into arena's on "magic carpets," praising Allah, really playing up his Middle Eastern angle. He was "the villain" in the U.S.

After 9/11, the U.S. was so bent on revenge, even the biggest country music stars in the country (The Dixie Chicks) were essentially ruined when they spoke out against invading Iraq. And they were about as loved by fans as you could get at the time. Their careers were ruined in the blink of an eye.

Due to the climate at the time (which went on for years), Hamed never would've been able to fight in the U.S. Promoters wouldn't have even taken a chance on staging a fight with him. The energy in the country at the time was out of control. Hell, I think a person with his personality and act back then would still have trouble fighting here, today.

I'm sure it was clear to him and to everyone around him.

With his career basically finished in the U.S., just as he was becoming a PPV attraction, he fought once more in the UK and retired. He got into a car accident that severely injured a guy (who later took his car and drove Hamed's wife and kids off the road). He started drinking.

Everything seemed to come apart.

I always enjoyed watching him fight. He was a very unique character. I'm glad he finally made it to the Hall of Fame. I thought he should've got in on the first ballot.

He was one of the most successful featherweight champions in boxing history and a global star in his day.

 

An excellent summary of Hamed's career, and the circumstances beyond his control that brought it to a premature end. I never liked the religious angle to his performances, but I suppose if one is a believer they have as much right to air their views as the rest of them, and it is obvious he would no longer be able to do so in the US.

 

I think you could tell Naz was headed for a fall quite awhile before it happened, there seemed to be a delusional Mindset seemed to Evolve that his Power would always get him out of Trouble, It certainly pulled his fat out of the fire in fights with Paul Ingle and Augie Sanchez, the unimpressive run-up to these victories was not ****ysed and learnt from, i suspect too many Family Members and friends telling him he was the greatest thing since sliced bread fed an Ego ripe for massaging, and when he was beaten by Berrera it was through the application of Sound old fashioned boxing Fundamentals, Crazy angels will not get you very far against a cool skilled operator who will use Timing and Accuracey,

Naz enjoyed a period where it did not matter who they put in the other corner, the Ring Entrance the Pyrotechnics, it all went to distract from what was really happening, a talented young man was being allowed to much egotistical lattitude to help him Hone and maximise his talents, the Jose Badillio fight was a fight where it was hard not to be impressed, the Boxing ability was paramount, the Power compliamentary, it should have been a pointer to better performances, sadly it was not to be the KO proved too seductive and a plan B was never hatched.