Possibly. Without a doubt the biggest waste of British talent in my lifetime. I still maintain a fully focused and determined Hamed under Brendan Ingle would have knocked out Barrera.
Manny Steward ruined him. We will never know how good he could have been because Manny could not recognise his style was working.
I think Hamed was exposed at the elite end of the spectrum by Barrera... Other elite fighters would have done the same too...:yep I think that leaving Brendan was the worst thing that Naz did...:yep I loved Naz, he was great for British Boxing and I respect all his acheivements in his career...:good
Yea Brendan Ingle was the only trainer worldwide that would have allowed Naz to do what he wanted to. Think I it was Nazeem Richardson talking about how he had respect for Enzo Calzaghe with letting Joe play to his strengths while all American trainers would be getting Joe to 'turn the punches over'. With Naz its a similar thing, no orthodoz trainer would see them shots from freaky angles and not scream at him. Brendan allowed Naz to fight the way he wanted and lets gets this 'overrated' crap outta the way- NAZ WAS A NATURALLY GIFTED FIGHTER. His power at that weight was ferocious, his handspeed frightening and he was a gutsy little bugger. Trouble was he was a rubbish trainer and when he had kids the motivation was gone. If the circumstances had of been different a fully motivated Naz woulda beaten Barrera. Im as gutted as anyone that a Gatti fight didnt materialise and fights with JMM/Morales/Pacquaio werent made. Im with everyone who questions his record coz it could and should have been soooooooooooo much better (Paul Ingle and Wayne McCulloch were boh good wins aswell though). Just dont agree with this easily banded about word 'overratted'. He under-acheived based on his skill set. Fly's like 110 right? I couldnt see him gettin titles there, he was only 114 when he started out and he was a teenager then. Stupid that he was wasnt world title holder at bantam and super bantam to go with his feather weight crown. I dont think he had the height or reach to go much higher especially not lightweight. As for the pac-man comparison, Naz at feather beats the Pacquaio at that weight imo. This is pre-Marquez draw which was a loss in my eyes and pre-Morales 1 sorta time when Pac-man was around that weight and was no where the beast we see today. Ok he did beat Barrera at 126 bu not alot else. I take Naz late stoppage in a classic
Its no ridiculously good record yeah, but its really not that bad every champion in his weightclass was there and some decent defences, and all achieved when he was very young, there arent actually that many boxers whove achieved a lot more than that these days it depend what standards youre judging him by, as most people dont seem to rate him that highly it should be an impressive record, i think its a bit dissapointing because i believe he could have done better. also no shame whatsoever in losing to barrera with that training.
If he was where Khan is today makes you wonder how good he could be then man .Training with Pacquiao getting trained off Freddie Roach as well .Live in a fantasay me man lol
a shame that the guy was so far up his own arse, he had the potential to one of the best and most successful boxers this country has ever produced.
he still was. :hey even with the head stuck up the rear end. :yep or stuck into the ringpost when barrera got him. should have fought for a world title at super bantam. but warren didn't have the nuts to match him with barrera in 95. naz-barrera in 95 is probably my all time dream match up. two 21 yr olds in a prime vs prime battle. :rasta