Let me put it another way. He will survive but be badly embarrassed and further exposed by the top 3. Badly. Worse than the Barrera fight.
I agree with @Clinton . I rate Naz very highly as a talent but he's more of a 'could have, should have'. He never really harnessed that incredible agility and speed to be effective at the very top level. If he'd added discipline and enough humility to learn and use some fundamentals, he could have been something incredible. But he didn't. So he's a 'could have' and, at the end of the day, he didn't quite survive his own era - which was generally made up of slightly past their best guys in Johnson and Kelley along with Barrera who'd collected a couple of defeats and wasn't looking the force he went on to be at featherweight. Given that, I can't see him surviving the inferno that was the featherweight division in the late 70s and early 80s.
Agree with most of your post. But winning titles is no small accomplishment. And he didn't just squeak by he dominated. I agree he could have taken his career alot further if he had discipline. His power alone makes him a threat to any featherweight due to he can knock people out with one punch at any given time. That doesn't mean he beats everybody or was the better boxer. However it means he carried a substantial threat and would have been an opponent that others couldn't afford to take lightly.
WBO title from 1995 to 2000; the IBF title in 1997; and the WBC title from 1999 to 2000. Winning the WBO didn`t mean as much back then, mainly lesser fighters fought for the WBO title the best fighters went for the three morer established titles at that time.
Fair comments Cobra which, with a polarising figure like Hamed, is an achievement in itself. Good post and I take your amendments to what I said on board.
Hamed was just too dumb. I have never seen a champion with a lower boxing IQ. Just too ****ing stupid.
Who is this mythical fighter that can, "knock people out with one punch at any given time." ? There are alot of featherweights that he could not knock out with one punch at any given time. The ridiculous Hamed hype train continues unabated lol.
Hamed fought in arguably the best era of featherweights. Marquez, Pacquiao, Morales, Barrera, and he was schooled by imo the weakest of those 4, the others he never fought. I dont think Hamed beats any of those. In fact I dont think he beats any top flight featherweight of the 80's era either, certainly not Sanchez and Nelson.
Willie Pep didn't have power did he? Danny Lopez had tremendous power capable of turning a fight around with ONE punch even when he was losing. Naz had the same type of power. Its the type of power that can change the course of a fight with one punch. Salvador Sanchez was a great boxer but he didn't have one punch power as evidenced by most of his bouts. Eusebio Pedorza was the same way. Skillful boxer but didn't have one punch power. Doesn't mean those two couldn't hurt their opponents And this hilarious notion that he didn't fight anyone?? Steve Robinson was on a role before he met the Prince. He beat Colin,Duke,Paul pretty much cleaned out the division in England. He had NEVER been stopped - until the Prince stopped him. Tom Johnson was rated the NUMBER ONE featherweight in the world. NUMBER ONE. Over TEN successful title defenses. Never been stopped. Until Naz stopped him. Manuel Medina had been stopped earlier in his career. Since his move to Featherweight nobody had stopped him. Until he fought Naz. Bungu was a champion moving up to challenge Naz. Hadn't lost in about seven years. Cleaned out his division. He had never failed to see the distance. Until Naz stopped him in four. Billy Hardy was a soild world class boxer. In his first fight with Canizales he gave Canizales a good fight. Lost a razor thin decision. Then he got stopped in the rematch in the 8th round. He couldn't even get out of ONE round with Naz. Take a look at Freddy Cruz. Was incredibly durable. He would lose but nobody could stop him. Until he fought Naz who was the first to ever stop him. Naz fought TEN world champions and beat 9 of them. I didn't even like the Prince. Couldn't stand him. Don't like Mayweather either but you think I'm going to say he wasn't a good boxer just because I'm not a fan of his?
