Who was The more Popular in The U.K - Prince Naseem Hamed Or Chris Eubank?

Younger fight fans preferred Hamed older ones like myself Eubank.

Hamed mirrored the young, braggadocio behaviour of late teens early 20's I was always neutral about him after he goaded and gestured at Steve Robinson when he won the title during the fight all uncalled for.

Eubank could see through the selling of himself the monocle but also the honesty of the brutality of the sport. I wanted Benn to beat him but the night he walked through a storm in Birmingham couldn't help but admire him. Huge TV audience on a Sunday night and it was the days in the UK that a big fight could usurp football on the back pages.

Eubank said he would take everything Benn had and beat him few believed him but that night love or hate him he became respected by all.

 

I disagree. It was an exciting fight. And it wasn't as one-sided as people remember it being. It was 115-112 on two cards. People were just shocked Barrera won, because he certainly wasn't supposed to. It was a big upset.

That was a fight that begged for a rematch. Usually, when HBO (or any network) was hyping a new big star, and he loses in an upset, a rematch was definitely in order.

But, after September 11th that year, they literally wanted nothing to do with Hamed. NOTHING.

It was over. And it was also the end of his career in the U.S. His last fight took place the following year, and no station in the US covered it. NONE. HBO didn't. Showtime didn't. The USA network didn't. ESPN didn't. Hell they were even still showing boxing on NBC and ABC in 1992, and they didn't pick it up.

And he was one of the poster boys boy for HBO boxing during all their montages hyping World Championship Boxing.

 

Saintpat etc,

I was in a bar middle of the afternoon in NZ watching Hamed beat Kelly great fight by both the younger gun just had too much, Hamed going into that fight favourite, hot one as in most of his fights.

UK wise when he signed to face MAB iirc he was again favourite home money but you could sense that what got to Hamed pretty early on in the build up MAB wasn't fazed, world class boxers are not and Mexican's most fans would know take intimidation from an opponent as a personal affront. A challenge.

Hamed would attempt to mentally bully the opponent before hand, all fair the psychological part of the game this time it didn't work come fight week he knew it. On the night the bully got bullied in the ring the better man won and it broke Hamed.

 

Oh please, the WBO Featherweight title wasn't a "trinket" because Hamed literally BEAT ALL THE OTHER CHAMPIONS in his division and then he'd dump their belts and keep the WBO belt.

And when Hamed beat Tom Johnson and vacated the IBF belt he won from Johnson, it was won by Manuel Medina, who Hamed had already knocked out. And Medina lost it to Paul Ingle, who Hamed also had beaten in a defense.

How was Hamed less of a champ at that time than the three IBF champs he beat?

Hamed was so dominant at featherweight, the WBA stripped Wilfredo Vazquez of the WBA belt after he signed a unification, because they knew Hamed would discard it after he beat Vazquez, which he did (beat Vazquez, that is).

 

First, I’d have to see some evidence that HBO or anyone else made any decisions regarding Naz based on 9/11. Absent that, this is a case of Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc — a logical fallacy that means ‘after, therefore because of.’

He didn’t get back in the ring for more than a year after his loss. That’s not HBO’s fault. And when he did it wasn’t against anyone HBO or anyone else in the U.S. would televise, an IBO fight against an unknown Spaniard.

Had he fought MAB or Morales or whoever else was at the top then (Gainer maybe?) then yeah, you’d have a point if they turned their back on that. HBO stuck its toe in the Naz water as a spectacle and got a thriller vs. Kelley so they wanted to do more business … but as usual with HBO only if he’s fighting top guys.

It’s not like he had a fight lined up on 10/11 and it got canceled due to 9/11 — there was no movement on Hamed’s end because his ego got bruised and he was home licking his wounds. When you lose a decision, aren’t injured and decide to take a full year (and an extra month) off and then you cherry pick a lower-tier Euro opponent for your comeback … and don’t fight again after that — that’s on Hamed, not HBO or anyone else.

 

Because if you keep that other belt then you have to fight mandatories and not WBO pastries that are served up.

Hamed never unified to win the Ring recognition as world champ, which says a lot. He probably was good enough to, but didn’t want to have to continue to face top guys by defending against mandatory contenders when he could pluck cookies from the WBO tin instead.

The WBO was not recognized as a major title outside the UK during this time. That came later that it joined the Big Three to make a Big Four.

 

Do You think Naz turning his back on Brendan Ingle didn't ingratiate himself much either with the public? As egocentric as Eubank was he stayed loyal to Ronnie Davies.

 

Right because let's put that in a memo. When an athlete is blacklisted, there doesn't tend to be a memo passed around to everyone involved.

Barrera fought Enrique Sanchez the Saturday night before 9/11. HBO was still talking about Hamed (and bashing him) during the prefight, saying Hamed would appear on HBO in November. (Of course, he did not.) And in the postfight between Lampley and Steward talked about the two rematches that were upcoming on HBO, Barrera-Morales II and Barrera-Hamed II, and which should happen first.

Other than relishing his loss, they couldn't wait to have him back on again.

And not only was he not on in November, they dropped him from their promos and never invited him back. And no other network did, either.

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Hamed was one of the biggest stars in the sport in 2001. Why didn't ANY network at all in the US want to touch him after 9/11? None. Which network picked up his big comeback fight in London? Which network showed highlights? When was the Hamed-Barrera rematch?

Hell, Barrera got knocked cold by Junior Jones and there was a rematch. Barrera and Morales fought three times.

Barrera-Hamed 1 was actually headlining PPV (unlike the Junior Jones fights or the first Morales fight). How was Barrera-Hamed II NEVER discussed after 9/11? EVER? How was that not a big fight?

Instead, after Hamed's comeback win, HBO matched Barrera with New York's Kevin Kelley (on a freaking PPV, no less, which tanked).

Talk about a slap in the face.

I remember that time very well. Hell, the Dixie Chicks had their entire careers wrecked in 2002 because they were anti-war. The US wanted blood. And HBO wasn't going to invite Hamed back to the US and have "Prince Arrogant" knocking dudes out again.

Saying Barrera "took his soul" is comical. He lost a 12-round decision, the only loss of his career, in a competitive fight.

 

Listen Dummy. First, Ring didn't hand out Ring Belts then. They stopped doing that for a period of time. There wasn't a Ring champion in ANY division in the sport, let alone Featherweight, when Hamed was champion.

Second, the "pastries" he was beating were the other Featherweight Champions ... the WBO Champ, the WBC champ, the IBF champ and the WBA Champ ... not to mention the longtime reigning Super Bantamweight champ Bungu and the former Bantamweight champ moving up McCullough.

And when he wasn't beating them, he was beating guys like Medina and Ingle, who were fighting for and winning belts he vacated.

Hamed was THE Featherweight champion.

Hamed put the WBO on the map. It was a belt that may not have been recognized until later in other divisions. But it certainly was at Featherweight when he was the champ.

 

Whether Ring handed out belts back then or not, they definitely recognized champions in divisions where there was one. The whole lineal thing is recorded in their rankings — when there’s not a clear lineal, then when No. 1 beats No. 2 or someone unifies the belts, they are recognized as Ring champion.

Look at the year by year annual Ring rankings and you’ll see plenty of divisions where there is a champion above No. 1-10. Hamed never ascended to that at featherweight.

Dummy? LOL.

 

Here’s the truth:

Hamed had a rematch clause with Marco Antonio Barrera and decided not to exercise the option. HIS choice.

HBO offered Hamed a fight on Sept. 8 — three days before 9/11 — and he turned it down.

He had a contract with HBO to carry his fights in America but they had to approve opponents. HBO was not interested in a fight with an unknown Spaniard — paying him top dollar to fight someone no one had ever heard of, which would have no interest in the US — and objected. HAMED chose to sever ties with HBO if they wouldn’t carry the fight against the opponent he wanted.

So it’s all on him.

He went into a funk after losing. He didn’t want a rematch. He turned down a fight in September. He didn’t want to fight a top guy when he did get around to fighting again so HBO had no interest … and he retired after that one fight. What was to stop him fighting in the UK and carrying on? Nothing.

Details: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naseem_Hamed_vs._Manuel_Calvo

 

I don't know if this means more popular, but Hamed was a huge draw.

He was the most highly paid boxer in the world apart from Holyfield.

 

Like it or not, Naz was going to be defined by what he did after getting completely outclassed and outboxed by MAB.

He was exposed as a guy with no fundamentals who could only land bombs but not hang with someone who could do boxing basics and withstand his singular hammer shots.

We saw what he was made of.

Kind of like Rocky Balboa said:

“It ain’t about how hard you can hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done.”

Hamed spun off the table like a child’s top out of control after he lost. His ego couldn’t handle it. He couldn’t humble himself to get back in the gym and listen to a trainer and try to improve his many shortcomings. He couldn’t risk stepping back in the ring with Barrera even though he had a guaranteed, contracted rematch if he wanted one.

He simply walked away.

 

Had PPV been around earlier, Eubank’s fights with Benn and Watson would’ve done unheard of buys. Absolutely obscene.

 

Chris Eubank was popular before AND after Naseem. But Naz had 3 years where he reached a level of fame beyond Eubanks IMO.