He got knocked down a lot but he seemed fine. Less than 6 rounds. Did Hamed actually get hurt in it or were they just knockdowns from his **** balance?
He got caught because he was on the center line after punching, and Kelly took over the fight after the first knockdown, Hamed began to panic and struggle, then he caufght Kelly and he took over, it was an exciting fight.
Was he hurt though? I truly don't remember this fight very well despite enjoying it so much. It's interesting though. One perspective you can take from this is "Hamed was overrated, struggled against Kelly who wasn't even at his best. Former champ, the signs were there." Another take is "Hamed makes mistakes but his physical abilities bail him out. Take the athleticism away and his mistakes get exacerbated and he doesn't have a way to respond." I think the fact that Kelly couldn't fully take advantage of Hamed's flaws to win and instead got ended himself in under 6 rounds says a lot about Hamed. I see the toughness to withstand all that and the (unorthodox) skill to see these opportunities and capitalize off of them. I will say that I strongly disagree with your assessment of him panicking though. I don't think a person panicking can come back and win in this fashion.
AGAIN, in the entire world of boxers not from Eastern Europe, the fact you thought AJ and Andrade are the best examples of perfect footwork is beyond confusing and completely bizarre. Especially as you then said you've barely even watched Andrade. You're clearly too stubborn to admit any of this now so I'm just gonna leave you to it. Enjoy!
Compared to his contemporaries AJ actually has the best technique right now at HW. Andrade does certain things others don't. I also never said "I barely watch Andrade" I said "I need to see more of him" because I need to see if what he does works against better competition. There is a reason I used past tense verbs for Golovkin and Kovalev YOU'RE the one bring up some weird EE narrative here. Who would you like me to have picked? I also never said perfect footwork to begin with.
Seems Nas talk has taken over the thread a bit, sorry for that. I will say though that his balance was actually superb. Just because he got punched off balance and would wildly sway and duck to avoid taking full shots doesn't mean he had poor balance! His athleticism and coordination have been matched by very few in boxing history imo. His tactics and style were so gung-ho that he displayed immense balance, timing and reactions just to survive against decent opposition, nevermind blast a lot of them out with swag. As far as do's and don'ts go: Do try and obtain the balance, athleticism, reactions and flexibility of a prime Naz but Don't apply them in the same way he did!
Hmmm this is actually a good outlook on his balance. I suppose it depends on context. Thank you. I think about this in a new way now.
No narrative from me and there never was. Never said you have a narrative either. Just said that of all the boxers in the entire world not from a few Eastern Euro nations, Andrade and AJ are super bizarre choices.
His performance against Steve Robinson would be near impossible for anyone but the likes of SRR, Pep, Ali, RJJ to reproduce imo, that's why I mention him based on footwork and athleticism alone. I fully agree with those claiming he was knocked off balance and out-manouvered by other, better fighters, but that doesn't mean they had better balance or footwork imo. Just that they knew how to utilise their arguably inferior athleticism to gain advantage in a boxing match. A strange and esoteric distinction to draw maybe but anyone researching footwork would do well to watch the likes of Augustus, Hamed, RJJ for a full view of the effective footwork spectrum.
my view on naz and balance, he had some of the most amazing balance ive ever seen in a fighter. thats why he could hit so hard from the weirdest of positions. his balance was such, that no matter what position he found himself in, he found the leverage still to drop guys like he had a stun gun in his hand.
Augustus was far better v Mayweather than Naz would have been at super feather, Steve Robinson was a dreadful fighter.