Well he did carry on but he fought next time out v a relatively unheard of Spanish kid at the London arena millwall which is hardly Vagas so I guess he just gave it away .
Years of fighting unheralded opponents in his hometown created arrogance. And then arrogance got the best of him.
It was a combination of stepping up against the best fighter he had ever faced and his sheer arrogance which had been such a part of his success finally undoing him. He'd split with Ingle, he clearly wasn't dedicated to training anymore if he was struggling to make weight. He was only 5'3" and often looked smaller than the featherweights he fought, the only reason he moved up to feather weight in the first place was because he couldn't get a title shot at super bantam, so him struggling with the weight suggests he was not making the right choices and the way his weight blew up after he retired again only confirms this. His style had changed over time, you look at his early fights, he was a counter puncher, he'd make guys miss then counter with those huge punches, but even before Barerra he'd fallen in love with his power and was basically just trying to bomb guys out with power shots he'd abandoned the boxing side of his craft. Not sure if even Hamed at his best could of beaten MAB. MAB was a level above everyone else Hamed fought. His speed, his durability, his size, he dwarfed Hamed, he looked 2 divisions bigger. I suspect MAB would of always been a little too good for Hamed and found the holes in his style and come out on top.
Like another said. Barrera is an ATG. A great fighter. Hamed was nowhere near him. N no the fight wasn’t more competitive than moSt think. MAB seriously outclassed him to the point that he was perfectly comfy intentionally giving away a point to shove hameds arrogant face into the corner. 20 year old fight n people are still making excuses for that overhyped arrogant douchebag. MAB made the guy look incredibly stupid and retired his dumb ass. Still one of my all time great boxing memories.
he was not elite, and paid the price for finally facing one. Thats said he has solid world class wins like his fellow longtime wbo fan jo calzaghe. Shame, if he'd carried on then he might have proved he was an elite, but the fact that he chose to bail out when things were going to be tough from now on, kinda seals his definition. I think the best we can say is that he was an "unresolved possible elite" but never went on to fully prove it, like Calzage himself. And the inference is that, because he chose not to, he probably wasnt.
All fighters have someone who is a problem. Hearns had Barkley. Ali had Norton. Wasn't Junior Jones a problem for Barrera?
Jr Jones was 2 huge problems for mab.. Morales had to beat up Jr Jones for mab his countryman, lol kinda jk...
His hands were ****ed He wasn't training properly, motivation had gone, another poster alluded to the fact that he had abandoned his boxing principles and was always looking for the showreel knockouts Was more bothered about his haircut than more important things , think he even flew over his favourite hairdresser to shave his hair I think he took the fight at shorter notice than usual because the money was so great from what i remember Regardless , Naz was good for the sport, like really good and had crossover appeal, but even at his best he would have struggled with MAB who was just too good for him.
Hamed was a very good fighter and puncher at his best but Barrera was a better boxer fundamentally than Hamed and gave Nassem a sound lesson in world class boxing.
Barrera refused to let Naseem control the Fight...the Mexican just kept walking through Naseem and man handled Him and took control most of the Fight...he was never like a lot of Naseems opponents intimidated at an stage.!!!!
Barrerra had his number that day, and Naseem was complacent. He had spent so long beating up guys that he was clearly levels above in various attributes... But Naseem also had chronic hand pain, he required continued cortisone injections to numb the excruciating pain that was compounded with each fight. Guess he had too much power and speed for his body to handle. Naseem could have beaten Berrera but it would have required a new mindset, a new attitude to the challenge infront of him. He needed to fight like underdog rather than an overconfident fighter that's been used to dominating for so long. At the end of the day, he made has cash, had his fame, decided to pull out. He will always have a special place in my heart for all the great moments he shared with us, during my childhood he was like a king among kings. Infinite charisma.