The Better Boxing Career: Naseem Hamed or Amir Khan?

Naz didn't choose to leave the Wincobank gym - he left after Brendan told him he wouldn't train him anymore. He never reached his potential in my humble opinion because his attitude to training changed when he hit the money at the age of 20/21.
Naz used to spar regularly with Clifton Mitchell, Jon Keeton and Johnny Nelson. Another pro heavyweight floored Naz in the gym and Brendan had to jump in the ring to pull Naz off him.
Neville Brown was British middleweight champion and said he had to be at the top of his game to survive with an 18 year old Naz. Your " classic bully" claims are nonsense.

 

The thing is tho mate he didnt hit the money at 20/21. Think he was 22 before he even fought steve robinson. Before that it was mostly your usual journeymen. Realistically thats not gonna be a whole lot of money. Hes not exactly gonna be a multi millionaire fighting robinson and medina which i think when he was 22/23. I think he split from warren and ingle in 1998 after the mculloch fight. And thats when his family took over....tbf to them tho they did take him to manny steward. One of the best trainers of all time. I dont think mannys got time for guys coming and not training. Hes pretty much seen it all before.

Again how were they able to keep him at 126 the featherweight division for so long. If he wasnt training properly he wouldnt have been able to do that. Especially now we ve seen the size of him in recent years.

I ve no doubt naz was difficult to work with. And he,d probably take liberties with training etc but to believe he wasnt training or he wasnt doing much in the gym...i d query that. What do you mean by he wasnt training properly anyway.

I think its common knowledge naz was a bully. Pretty sure i read he had people in tears...because he was that nasty to them. Fair play to ingle for standing up to him.

Your saying a heavyweight knocked him down...then naz had to be dragged off of him. What i m saying tho is its sparring. You get knocked down you get back up again and get back to sparring. I bet naz turned that into a proper fight. And the heavyweight in question was a no name compared to naz in the gym. What i m trying to say is naz was the big noise in the gym. His ego got too big. And when the time came...barrera came along and bullied the bully in everyway. As soon as naz couldnt get the better of him he went into his shell. Bullys probably not exactly the right name for it...but an on top fighter would be better. As soon as he wasnt on top problems started to arise with him. Look at barrera or morales...they dug in and gave it their all when they were up against it...just watch their fights together. Naz done the opposite...went into his shell then left the game for good at 28 years old. Kind of tells its own story.

Again the middleweight says he has to be at the top of his game to survive...probably because naz was better than him. Thats hardly putting the bully tag to bed imo.

 

A professional boxer getting bullied by a man about half his weight. OK pal.
Thanks for your input but I know a hell of a lot more about this than you can research. Naz was 21 when he beat Robinson. He'd already received a load of money before this when he signed various contracts.
Would you consider training 3 weeks for his first world title fight training properly?
You're entitled to your opinion, but nothing that I say is going to move you from the agenda that you are pushing.

 

Naz is the best british boxer ever.

I think only AJ has the potential to overtake him in that regard.

 

I think Lewis and Calzaghe have a shout, but that's another thread

 

Training 3 weeks for his first world title fight. As in the robinson fight? The problem i ve got is hamed boxed five times that year. 4 times in the year before he faced robinson on the 30th of september. His last fight before that was the 1 of july. Hes been an active fighter who was a good bit better than robinson anyway. Its not like its the end of the world for a young fighter to only put in 3 weeks bearing in mind he was very active in that time period. Hes not going long periods before his fights neglecting his training. I m not sure its an indication that he could have beat barrera tbh.

 

The indication that he would have beaten Barrera was him beating all the champions between 95 and 98 and Barrera getting his arse handed to him twice by Junior Jones.
You asked for an example of when he wasn't training properly so I gave you one of many. You've dismissed it as you know much better of his early earnings, his training schedule. and his family "taking over" so I shall stop wasting my time.

 

Fair enough mate...i can only go by looking in from the outside but thats my honest take on it. Better just to agree to disagree.

 

My take is that Amir Khan and Naseem Hameds careers for the first 6 years are very similar........both came to prominence in a weakened division..........when Hamed came up the FW division had been in the doldrums since the days of nelson/Mcguigan/Esparagozza......there had been many short term or weak champions in a weak division for 7 years or so. Tom Johnson, Medina, Robinson and Vasquez were the best of a very average bunch....solid fighters all.......and Naz was superior.

The same for Khan he ascended to a paper title at 140lbs....he saw off his Kevin Kelly in Marcos Maidana (that is a slightly better foe but overhyped).......than like Hamed when the real competition arrived for Amir he was found wanting...... in Amirs case Peterson, Garcia, and Canelo.....Amir although his chasing of Pac and money was desperate and annoying and money motivated has the HEART of a LION and will fight anyone if the money is right.....I do believe amir wants to avenge his losses.

Hamed though was a front running bully who fled the moment the competition arrived after he had his butt kicked in an impotent performance with barrera. Hamed who once spoke in 1996 of winning 6 world titles up to 168lbs soon changed his tune when that path from 126 to 168 became blocked by mayweather, casamayor,Freitas and corralles at 130 and Mosley at 135.....Amir though wants the competition although he has ignored Brook, Thurman, and Porter up to now I think that's just down to his wanting undeserved big money fights with the A list like Pac, money.........in boxings hottest division 147......so in the meanwhile khan has continued since 2012 beating Hamed B level style opponents like Algeri and Alexander.

Hamed was a bully. Look at the cruel mocking beating of the poor African journeyman Said Lawal , one of his fellow muslim brothers.....trying to make a honest livlehood having come up from abject poverty being mocked than having his nose broken in 30 seconds and thrown out of the ring with the face pulling Naz.

Or the disrespect to Tom Johnson the groin thrusts.....the taunting of the uncle figure Belcastro

Just think of the fights Naz could have had and didn't have.....Morales, Tapia, Ayala jnr, Mosley, Mayweather, Corrales, Freitas, Casamayor, Marquez.....I think all of them would have beaten him

 

No agendas pal . Im saying it too Naz was a bully.

Claude Abrams dared get in the ring with him and got battered and given a bloody nose.

Naz taunted Brendon Ingle as a lad and Brendon got in the ring with Naz and Ryan Rhodes and they battered his body to within an inch of his life. He was in a bath all night.

Said Lawal- Humiliated and had had his nose broken by the face pulling mocking Naz

belcastro- disrespected

Colin Hart- called colin Fart and threatened

 

Muslim brother?? I'm the first to shout out against prejudice but it goes both ways mate. You don't treat people differently just because of who they worship. When the bell rings there is no religion, just two blokes trying to spark each other out.

 

I don't like either but Naz was better career wise, I never really saw him as a joke, just exposed in the Barerra fight. Khan on the other hand takes a loss for a laugh, taking that Canelo fight was stupid and everyone but him knew it, doing it to make some kind of point or avoiding other fights. Nothing good came from getting knocked spark out but he seems to believe it makes him Mr elite. Khan took too many loses and is likely to take more.

 

Ive got no idea what you are on about or what misinterpretation u have made of a minor fact i made.

Irrespective of muslim or not lawal was an impoverished journeyman who had been shamefully matched.the hands down arrogant taunting and mocking and onecpunch humiliation was sadistic and cruel....

 

Well he was ahead on points and made canelo look slow at times....his skills are still elite as is his courage...his jaw and boxing brain are not

 

You were talking about Naz's 'cruel mocking of his Muslim brother'. I was just pointing out that his/their religion is irrelevant.

Regarding the bullying, Naz did no different to the likes of what Ali did. He was a great showman and talker who could back it up in the ring. He was a product and he knew how to market himself. You either loved him or hated him but either way you still watched him.