atsch:rofl:rofl:rofl British logic, Naz step up in class losses clearly and suddenly he is not prime Fact: MAB is the best fighter Naz ever faced and MAB beat him, and reason he beat him is not because he was not prime it is because MAB is much better than any other fighter Prince ever faced, end of story!
Why not? HOF status ain't hard to get. Hamed was excitin as hell, rightfully gobbled up all the belts, and only lost to a great fighter.
Dominated his division for years beating lots of world and former world champions. Lost to one of the greatest mexican boxers of all time.
People tend to overlook the fact that he had a pretty impressive resume and beat a number of current and former world champs. Pity he retired so young. You're alwasy elft wondering how a guy could have turned out when they retire that young. In a recent interview, he mentioned he never came back because he had so much problems with his hands.
We never know if he would have approached a second fight definitely, he did too much waiting about and looking for a big punch against Barrera which was never going to win. Hell I bet this forum would have said that Barrera was going to get smashed out before the fight.
The sole criteria for the IBHOF are a fighter's accomplishments in the ring as a professional. It's irrelevant (at least according to the IBHOF) how "famous" a fighter is/was or how significant an "impact" he made. Based on his resume, Hamed has a pretty good shout. He went 10-1 (eight KOs) against former or current world titlists, and defeated a host of "very good" fighters like Medina, Johnson, Kelley, Vazquez, Bungu and McCullough. His sole loss was to one of the best fighters of the era, and other than Soto (foul) he didn't have a single controversial win, which is uncommon when fighting for years against world class opposition. He effectively unified the division, and was consensus p4p top 10 for much of his title reign. On the negative side, he never beat a "great" fighter, and while Medina, Johnson Vazquez and Bungu have an outside HOF shout, none have yet been enshrined. Nearly all of his big wins were on the downside of their careers, and he was a single divison titlist who never attempted to move up in weight. He also shamelessly ducked Marquez, who would have been one of the few name fighters on his record yet to reach his zenith, and possibly his best chance for a career defining win. On the whole, while there are definitely fighters I'd have in before Hamed, he probably deserves his place in the hall based on the volume of world class fighters he beat.
his resume is ok he did manage to win 3 of the 4 major belts he was exciting as all hell defended the featherweight title 15 times in only 5 years(which is impressive) i believe thats the 2nd most title defenses in that weight division but he retired too soon and lost to the best fighter he ever faced imo if he would have beaten mab and then retired maybe he would have been worthy but i think hes gonna get in anyway
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPcD-WVZpyQ[/ame] i agree with your post but i dont think he ducked jmm
I think he deserves to be in. I'm from Sheffield, and Naz was the guy that you loved to hate. I grew up watching him, and he was a great entertainer. The problem with Naz, was that after he split with Brendan Ingle, he lost all discipline to dedicate himself properly. It was the beginning of the end when he parted company with Brendan and let his brother Riath take care of his finances etc. It's a real shame how things turned out, but he's only himself to blame. I was glad MAB beat him, but that wasn't the best version Naz fighting that night. He was only about 28, but he wasn't mentally prepared for MAB, and hadn't trained properly. I haven't got an ounce of sympathy for him, but had he still been with Brendan, and been fully focused, we'd have seen a better showing. I'm not saying he would have beaten MAB, but it would have been a closer fight. After he split with Brendan, he hired Oscar Suarez to train him, and he basically did what he wanted, whenever he wanted. He hired Manny Steward (R.I.P.) to help him prepare for MAB, but he didn't listen to Manny, and give him all of his attention. If you hire someone such as Manny to help you, but then don't fully to commit to working with him, then you get everything that you deserve. There's a video on youtube discussing it in more detail. Manny gave Naz's brother a tape of MAB to watch, and he never ended up watching it and studying it. Instead of watching the tape that Manny had sent, Naz was watching tapes of MAB's losses to Junior Jones. When Manny found out, he was annoyed and said "That tape is from 6/7 years ago Naz. That's not the version of Barrera you're going to be fighting!" He wasn't mentally and physically at his best for that fight. He was constantly cutting corners in the gym. Like I say, I'm glad, because I wanted him to lose, but a fully focused Naz with Brendan by his side, would have been a tougher opponent for MAB. After the fight, he had a gym built in Sheffield, and he was hardly there. It was only open about 12 months, and now it's a pharmacy. He could have achieved so much more if he'd have applied himself more, and not let his greedy brother cut Brendan out. It must have sickened Brendan, because Brendan had him in the gym since he was 7 years old. His idol was Herol Graham, and he owes a hell of a lot to Brendan. When you pick money over loyalty, and disrespect a great like Manny, like I say, you deserve everything that comes to you. But he was a great fighter, and in my opinion, he definitely deserves to be in. Regards, Loudon.