Manny Pacquiao vs. Prince Naseem Hamed

Morales was not a big hitter himself so it's a pretty pointless comparison from my point of view. The fact remains, Hamed never knocked out a top tier guy in his entire career and maybe the two most durable fighters he came up against in McCollugh and Soto...he wasn't able to stop either of them.

 

Hamed was the first to stop:

Tom Johnson
Bungo
Steve Robinson
Ingle
Molina
Alicea (in 2, later went 12 with Morales)
Lawal
Cabrera
Bardillo
Liendo
Padilla
Cruz

And the first to stop

Medina - over the age of 18

and the first to KO Kevin Kelly, his prior loss with a retirement

 

If you look at Hameds resume closely you'll see alot of the decorated fighters he beat were pretty beat down and shop worn. It looks good on paper but in reality, guys like Kelly, Johnson, Vazquez and Bungu were all selected at perfect times. I would say his best win in my opinion would be Wayne Mcullough, but Mcullough really offered no offensive threat in the way of power, so Hamed was able to box him and keep him in check. The flaws of Hamed were always there, but they were boldy exposed once he stepped up against an all around solid prime fighter, thats why I think Hamed did all he could do because he wasnt going to be able to compete with the fighters he was supposedly going to fight post Barerra, specifically Floyd Mayweather Jr and the better LW's.

 

Whats your definition of a 'top tier' guy, his comp gets pretty underrated now, lets look:

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A murderer's row indeed.

I'm not disputing that Hamed had great knockout power, but he isn't the certified one punch killer that people seem to think he is. He won't be knocking out Manny Pacquiao with a single hot I don't think, and Hamed rarely threw in combination.

All in all, fairly ambitious pick.

 

If you saw the Kelly Cobrita Gonzalez fight, you would know that Gonzalez took everything out of Kelly. That was one of the most brutal fights Ive ever seen, and I remember thinking Kelly would never be the same after it and he wasnt.
Alicea dropped Hamed early in the fight but was knocked out when he engaged him. He was never that great and fought Hamed with little experience.

 

Way past his best, operating above his optimal weight class.

Have referenced this as a very well respected victory on numerous occasions. Nothing further to add other than that Bungu was moving up a division.

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Defeated JL Castillo in his 18th professional fight, a fighter who everybody knows gradually improved with more and more experiance.

Soto was knocked out a few fights after by little guy and over the hill Johnny Tapia. Who hit harder, Tapia or Hamed?

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Decent...nothing special.

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Faced and beat a badly faded Junior Jones....knocking out this level of competition isn't indicative of extra-ordinary one punch knockout power...especially considering it was technical knockout.

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Good performance, not great opposition however. Robinson shipped flush shots consistently before eventually going down...and he would have gotten up had the referee allowed him too.

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You were asking about durable opponents, if you are the first to stop someone who's operated at world level or world champions, thats an impressive achievement and a true indicator of power, especially when he's blasting them with 1 shot half the time. Chins don't necessarily get better because someone is a greater fighter

I don't think he'd get Pacquaio with a single shot either though but I see him getting him time and again and at his best Hamed was throwing combinations, it was later he was only throwing 1 shot at a time. Pacquaio gets well overrated from his weight hopping, he hasn't been dominant at any weight except 140-147, which is mainly because he hasn't faced the best at those weights

 

Reminds me of someone else, too. :think

 

I could say the same for Pacquaio's resume though, still good wins, prime or not. No Hamed wouldn't match up well with FMJ at all, he matches up better with JMM/Morales though

 

:huh Hamed was dominant at 118-126 until he ran into MAB

 

Really? What was wrong with MAB in 2003? What was Marquez's problem in 2007? Cotto and Hatton being slightly past their best is only half the story, Pacquiao had never fought at 140lbs and Cotto was physically the stronger guy.

In any event, Pacquiao's resume > Floyd's resume.

 

Was talking about Floyd Mayweather Jr, PP.

Hamed was dominant against okay level opposition..the moment he stepped up to the elite he failed, the moment Pacquiao made the transition, he blew the same opponent away like he was nothing, like he wasn't even there.

 

Mosely is better than anyone Pac has ever fought at that weight.

 

FMJ was dominant at all his weights though

I don't think Hamed's comp was murderer's row stuff, but it was on par with say Tyszu's or BHOPs MW comp

Pac's has being blowing away impression opposition, but the best he fought, JMM, beat him twice in my book and he went for a David Diaz fight rather than go for a trilogy. Most of Pacs wins are also shop worn, even Roach has talked about how shop worn Manny's opposition has been

Lets not forget at 126, Pacquaio was not the fighter he is today, JMM schooled him pretty much as widely as MAB schooled Hamed, minus the KDs