Do you think Prince Naseem retired because of Barrera

This is why we all have opinions. I think it'd clear that he wasn't the most gifted boxer technically, but you don't need to be to be a great boxer. What you need is to be effective, and what Naz did have with his amazing talent, was that in abundance, and had he continued to train the same and been able to fight on past the relatively young age of 28, I think there's a big chance he could have been

 

I think that not being technically gifted was his gift in a strange way, he was so unorthodox and unpredictable and those qualities matched with his power made him very dangerous.

 

Naz had broke his hand in fight before against Sanchez and hbo had talked him into the Barrera fight at time he should of he was out gym for 6 months gained stone and half in weight and he was struggling to make the weight right into 2am the morning of the fight woth Marco Naz convinced himself he has going to ko the boxing king he probley felt that was his only chance he had he had..... in his words .....I could not lift my head when I was in the bath morning of the fight there are excuses and there is the story of the fight if it was an excuse he would of said it straight after the fight his body was tight u can see that in fight no hand speed or movement because he was drained he done well just going the 12 rounds folk just don't realise what boxers go through it's hardest thing in world to do Naz a true champ and real legend when u boxed 20years of your life it may be a living but it's not ur whole life.

 

I think even a dedicated Naz would've still struggled against the elite guys because his flaws were to easily exposed. Elite counter punchers and speed guys would always seriously trouble him. I believe Marquez would've made him look really bad and that's even if Naz managed to drop him early. Floyd would've toyed with him. Morales does what Barrera did to him. If he'd fought past the age of 28 fighting the top fighters he'd have been on the end of more losses imo. There is no way he'd have became Britians greatest if he'd fought on, even if he lived the life. He'd have to be beating guys like Marquez, MAB, Morales and even Floyd Mayweather to achieve that level of greatness. Aint happening.

 

I think he had an arrogance about him that was not based on reality.

When the reality struck him that he was not invincible, he couldn't handle it.

Instead of coming down to earth, facing that reality, and regrouping, he quit.

 

In all honesty, I thought his career ended because of 9/11.

Hamed was a great character. A dominant champ. He beat all the champs at featherweight. He made a move to try to crack the U.S. market. He was supposed to be a PPV star.

I couldn't wait. I loved the guy.

His loss to Barrera was a shock, because he was supposed to destroy Barrera, like Junior Jones had when he stopped him.

There was talk of an immediate rematch on PPV in the U.S. again.

Then 9/11 happened. Hamed's act of entering the arena on flying carpets and praising Allah and all that, as a foreign national, just wasn't going to be accepted in the U.S., no matter that he was a British citizen.

People in the U.S. wanted blood. Foreign-born Muslims weren't welcome here. The administration at the time wanted to invade everywhere. Hell, the biggest country band in the world at the time, the Dixie Chicks, were essentially blackballed and had their careers ruined because they were against starting a war in the Middle East. If the Dixie Chicks were Muslims, they probably would've been killed.

People now forget how practically the whole of the U.S. (and all media outlets) were out for blood. Hamed's career in the U.S. was essentially over.

He was going to be stuck fighting in Europe. He always wanted to be a bigger star than that. He wanted to conquer the U.S. market. But he was essentially banished.

He fought again in the UK, but he was listless. He didn't want fights like that. He wanted the huge stars ... who were all content to fight in the U.S. And Hamed couldn't fight there. And boxing in the UK back then wasn't like it is now. The U.S. was where all the action was.

People point to his lack of desire and all that, but I firmly believe that lack of desire came from the fact that he wasn't going to be able to fight the best boxers in the U.S. for the foreseeable future. And that sent him into a depression.

And it's a shame. I still think he should've been a first ballot hall of famer. But he could've been even greater if he'd been allowed to relocate to the U.S. and got to fight more names. His passport was still good and all that, but U.S. promoters wouldn't touch him after 9/11.

Hamed was "too Muslim" at that point in history for the U.S. to welcome him.

 

I agree. He was one of the most dangerous fighters in the world during his reign. Without question.

 

I don't think anyone has to beat Floyd Mayweather to be great.

The thing is all of what you said is presumption, if you listen to his story about how he had to get himself ready for the Barrera fight due to his initial laziness through camp then you might say differently. He didn't make weight til the morning of weigh in, was up still at 5am on the treadmill trying to get down and when having a bath that morning he said his body was so drained he couldn't even lift his head. 1 day before they fought. How much that is the case, whether he exaggerated the story, I don't know, but I know that I believe he did minimize his chances through not living the life at all.

You presume he couldn't have done it, but because he didn't go on, we'll never know.

 

This is the perfect quote, Saad. He was a guy who turned his back on the guy that got him there (I recall one of his last fights where Ingle was trying to give him instructions between rounds and Naz was looking away pretending not to hear him, pretending he didn't exist), started to believe his own BS and just couldn't come to grips with the stark reality that he wasn't the second coming. Ali had the king-size ego like Naz, but what happened to him after he lost to Frazier in what was the biggest boxing event of all-time? He came back. He beat everyone all-round him and beat Frazier twice in rematches. That is what you call heart. Ezzard Charles was undefeated when he got his arse handed to him by Lloyd Marshall. I think he was decked 8 times before the fight was stopped. Then he got his arse handed to him by Jimmy Bivins. Did he tuck tail? No, he came back and beat those two multiple times. Jimmy McLarnin took a virtual thumping from - I think it was Ray Miller (might be wrong on that one) - and came back with a better plan to completely outclass him. Closer to home, Henry Cooper lost 3 or 4 in a row at one point, which would have dissuaded many of continuing. But he just dug his heels in and soldiered on to a successful career. John Conteh broke his hand against Willie (The Bull) Taylor. Did he quit like Rigondeaux? He gritted his teeth and jabbed his way to the finish line. These guys all had something Naz didn't. Heart.

 

There were no fighters like Naz then or since, I just wish he had been in his prime for that Barrera fight and went out the way he deserved to.

The man who got me into boxing, a flawed genius.

 

I know all about Naz's issue's. I still don't think he could've beat the three mexicans without those issues. He was too flawed. He only has a punchers chance as they all were better more complete fighters than him imo.

The thing with Naz is before he fought at elite level his fans raved about his untouchable defence because of his freaky reflexes but as soon as he went up against a bit of speed and elite timing he fell appart. His style meant his defence could go from looking untouchable to diabolical depending on who he's in with. Naz is what happens when a fighter relies mostly on natural talent and doesn't have the fundamentals to fall back on when the **** hits the fan.

Now If Naz had Ken Buchanan's all round technical skills with that power he wouldn't have been on the receiving end of a boxing lesson from Marco Antonio Barrera. He would have won, and he would also have beat Morales and Marquez with that level of skill.

#Levels.

 

Great post, and I'm delighted you mention Winstone, who would have beaten Hamed as well.

 

One of the most underrated British fighters imo. A man who possessed one of the three best left hands in British boxing history - Conteh, Buchanan, Winstone. The man gives Naz a boxing lesson with that wand of a left.

 

*Winstone

 

I could see Naz struggling considerably with the Pat Cowdell who ran Sanchez close, never mind Winstone. I mean, he could well bomb him out in Nelson-like fashion too, but Cowdell was a really unorthodox cutie with a great jab and equally awkward style. Like a slick crab.

He lacked the footwork, balance, straight punching and ring generalship to beat a top mobile textbook technician like Winstone more often than not imo, though his power would make him dangerous throughout the fight.