Adam Smith mentioned during last night's commentary that JMM was Hamed's number 1 contender for ages, but the fight never came off. Hamed never fought for the WBA title, though the Wilfredo Vasquez victory was a win over the exchamp who had been stripped. However Freddy Norwood had won the vacant belt and succesfully defended against JMM who did not win a world title until 2003. Although the 2 styles would have made a fantastic fight, they both peaked at different times and therefore it is difficult to assess them 1-1, but I think Hamed would have taken him out with his devastating punch power if they could have met in their prime
Yes Marquez was mandatory for a long time, trying to get his WBO title shot. He even tried to pressure the WBO for it, gave up and fought F Norwood for his WBA title instead
This little snippet comes from Antonio Curtis, Marquez former matchmaker at Forum Boxing - "When the WBO said they were going to make a unification, I forgot who the hell they were supposed to be fighting. What happened is this, as soon as they told us no, we took another fight. As soon as we took another fight, then they called us when we had already signed for another fight and then they wanted us to fight Hamed, Curtis recalled, of those events. Now, I wanted to pull that fight, to fight Hamed. But Nacho said no. He would've gotten a half-million for the fight and Nacho turned that fight down." Featherweight Marquez said no to Hamed Juan Manuel Marquez conceded Friday that he turned down a fight with Prince Naseem Hamed, the World Boxing Organization featherweight champion. "I had been waiting two years," said Marquez, speaking through a translator. "Now they want the fight. I wasn't prepared. They did not give me sufficient time to get prepared." "Hamed is difficult to fight. Hamed is like a wrestler," Marquez said. "He will toss you around if he can. It is almost the same way with fighting (Freddie) Norwood. You have to knock him out to get the victory." Marquez said he would like to fight Hamed as the champion of one of the other sanctioning bodies. Otherwise, Marquez said, fighting Hamed "is not on even terms." Nacho Beristain, Marquez's manager, criticized the Hamed camp's negotiating tactics. "They want to get us when all of our energies are gone (from negotiating)," Beristain said. "They are only playing with our heads. We never want to fight (Hamed). Who do they think they are? They came out with an offer of $400,000. It is not worth it." This content is protected
This would've been so intriguing...the key to it would be the timing. From the outset Marquez is a stylistic nightmere for Naz, but for all his technical and counter punching abilities he does 'give himself up' which gives Hamed a helluva chance of hurting Dinamita then he had against a more cautious Barrera.
