Pretty sure bungu had a year off inactive through injury prior to naz. Add to that he was 34 and had to move up to 126 for the first time for the naz fight when his success was down at 122. Pretty much classic frank warren match making. Tbf to beat these guys....tom johnson and bungu even at 34 you have to be good. But its not really the argument because naz was very good. I just dont see naz beating bungu and johnson who went on to lose to a 14-2-2 fighter two fights after naz points to him beating barrera at any point. Look through naz,s career....the good fighters we,re very much shopworn...and the prime guys we,re average. Frank was picking opponents at just the right time. Feels a bit like....we had excuses against medina, kelley and barrera. No coincidence these guys we,re as good as he ever fought. Probably fighters with careers just as good on paper as kelley and medina....but the guys in the ring with naz we,rent quite as good by the time they got round to naz. No excuses we,re needed. Cause they we,re starting to fail anyway. I m actually quite a fan of naz....remember backing him to beat anyone at one point but hindsight kind of points to him not beating barrera....for me anyway.
Tom Johnson was an excellent win for Naz. And Naz stopped him. Ceaser Soto had just won a title. Be lost to Naz. Ingle was unbeaten and got stopped by Naz. ingle latter won a title. Robinson had been on a tear beating the very best England had to offer. Naz outclassed him easily. Medina won a title AFTER Naz stopped him. Bungu was a very established champion. Naz stopped him easily. Kelly had ONE loss prior to Naz.
He was. He beat Barrerra twice but then got KO'd by Kennedy McKinney. 8 months before McKinney had lost to Bungu who Naz KO'd. Jones also got KO'd by Paul Ingle who Naz KO'd. Sorry pal, but I can't accept that Naz could never have beaten Barrera
Fair point. But the "Little Prince" documentary showed how far he had fallen. The spar with the Mexicans 3 weeks before the fight was that bad I was open-mouthed when I saw it. I'd watched him spar since he was 13 and couldn't believe what I was seeing. After watching that it's amazing he managed to go 12 rounds with Barrerra.
He,d never have beaten a prime barrera anyway.....maybe the one that amir khan beat. Its one of them tho...no one really knows with 100 percent certainty....so who really knows. Respect your opinion anyway bud. One things for sure naz was a great fighter....no one can take that away from him. Its a pity we never got to see these fights at the right time.
Back in the 90s/early 2000s I used to watch his fights just hoping someone would knock him out. I was in Crete with the missus when he got beat by Barrera, I was made up. What a young fool I was...I sometimes watch his fights back on YouTube. He was a great fighter and I was too stupid to appreciate it. We live and learn.
People like to blame Steward for his downfall but forget that he was with Ingle when he was up and down like a yo-yo against Kelley. He found his limit and the elite at his weight were too good for him sadly.
Naz was done by the time the Barrera fight he wasn’t living the life to beat a fighter like Barrera , would he of beat him when he was at the top of his game? Not sure but would of been a better performance for sure!
Thing with Hamed was that his fights were undeniably exciting; people just thought he was an idiot. Came across really bad after a while; the stuff about 'knowing there would be a stretcher' for the Augie Sanchez fight. Plus people who are extremely religious always make me wonder. Either way, I think a lot of people were in the same boat as you.
Bags of talent, other worldly power and the confidence to use the lot. What's not to like ? Well, plenty actually. A real nasty little piece of work. Way overdid the disrespect of opponents, dropping out the w..ker sign at the touch gloves, consciously humiliating guys when he was on top and generally showing contempt. In his book, Joe Calzaghe tells of how even laid back and hugely likeable Carl Thompson was pushed to the point of threatening to fill him in. The hit and run thing was sickening as well and revealed a lot about Hamed's character or lack of it.
I don't think that would be the case its like trying to compare apples and pears. Junior Jones to Barrera was like Vernon Forrest to Shane Mosely, he just had a style that Barrera couldn't beat. Where as I feel that Barrera always had the style to beat Naz. Styles make fights as they say
