Did Hamed Lose his Nerve against Barrera?

I dont think Hamed lost his nerve, not as in had a crisis of self belief. His problem was the opposite, overconfidence.

There are rumours that by the time he left Ingle, the sole purpose of his training was to make weight, such was the lack of discipline, borne out of his arrogance.

Theres a good documentary that followed Hamed's camp in the build up to the Barrera fight. Hamed made a holy Arabic statement/reading in the ring before the fight. Theres footage of him learning it and he said words to the effect of preparing for the reading being more important to him than preparing for the fight.

I dont think he lost his nerve, I think he lost an 8-4/9-3 type decision to a great fighter, at a time his discipline was waning.

 

It is probably more a case of Barrera being particularly good at just beating the crap out of people with extreme prejudice.

 

I don’t think Hamed was the same fighter after the Kelly fight. Is that a controversial statement?

 

This sounds closer to the truth. His head was swollen so large that he was neglecting proper preparation because of course he was going to blow right through a nonentity like Barrera. Allah was on his side, to boot. All he had to do was get into the ring and Barrera would basically topple over of his own accord.

Barrera is of course an ATG and one in a bad mood at that. He brought ol Nas right back to the reality of things.

Maybe if Naseem really had been scared of Barrera he'd have trained properly and stood a chance.

 

No - He didn't lose his nerve, but Hamed, by the time he was about to face Barrera, had lost all sense of perspective.

That documentary, "Little Prince - Big Fight" could have been aptly retitled: "Hamed- An Accident Waiting to Happen".

 

I actually agree with this. Even though it was a great fight Hamed just seemed addicted to his power, sloppy and could well have been KO'd by a very good but not great fighter. After the Kelly fight I knew he would lose to Barrera.

Against Barrera Hamed just seemed totally clueless and without a game plan, not even a plan A let alone a plan B. Once it became clear Barrera wasn't going to play bombs away with him in the first few rounds he was done. While his style was always eccentric he did show in earlier fights he could fall back on (for him) reasonable point scoring techniques. Against Marco it was just bombs, and even they didn't have much sparkle.

I was a big Naz fan, he was very exciting, unique and really got boxing into the public eye again in the UK. Some of his early fights were thrilling because of his confidence and considering his age. Even after all these years though I can't decide if he was always destined to flame out early and or if he could have built a long term multi-weight career.

Ultimately I think he lack the discipline, self-awareness, lateral thinking and love of the game that ATGs demonstrate. Without these qualities I feel even if he was focused and had trained hard he would have been exposed anyway at some point. Frankly I think even if he was at his peak Barrera could have won as he had heart and discipline in spades.

 

I dont think so.

Whilst Steward is quite rightly regarded as a greater trainer than Ingle, I actually think Ingle's unorthodox style better harnessed Hamed's insane physical attributes, than Stewards more conventional style.

That, allied with Hamed's diminishing discipline meant he went backwards.

Barrera being the best boxer he fought, clearly had a lot to do with it too.

 

That's the documentary I was referring to. I agree, the sense of his ill discipline and loss of focus was palpable.

 

Like others here stated, if anything, he was over-confident and arrogant. For sheer punching power at featherweight, I think Hamed was probably the hardest hitter I've ever seen at that weight. Yep, even over Saddler, (I'm talking strictly punching power, not who was the better fighter).

Hamed was extremely unorthodox, but that's what made him so dangerous to fight. The moments he had against Kevin Kelley wasn't really a sign that he was a fraud, he could have had those moments against anybody. That was the nature of his style. He was similar to Roy Jones in that he bent all the rules but it worked for him. If a trainer told Hamed to keep your hands up and improve your balance, he would not have been as successful as he was.

I think when he fought Barrera, it was a combo of his own arrogance and reliance on his punch, the limitations of his style being exposed, and Barrera having a perfect game plan and sticking to it.

 

I don’t know about losing his nerve or really even what that’s supposed to mean, but he lost his confidence in that fight and basically quit after.

A guy like Hamed had to have supreme confidence — arrogance, really — to fight the way he did and to carry it off and go forward after. He wasn’t even going to be the same after his balloon got punctured … maybe if he had rematched and landed a lightning strike to win it and ‘erase’ the loss, but he wasn’t willing to do that.

 

Rather, I would say that Marco Antonio Barrera lost his nerve in the fight, but that did not affect his strategy and tactics. And Prince Naseem Hamed simply lost to the better boxer that night.

This content is protected

7:22 and there are more examples during the fight when Marco Antonio Barrera loses his nerve.

 

I think you nailed it here, totally agree!

 

I think Marco actually MADE Naz lose his nerve, in the ring.
Once he was in there and Marco was so effective against him and Naz started getting picked off, then the Prince s nerve went and he realized he's met his match basically.

 

Perhaps we quibble over terms.

To me, losing your nerve means losing your courage. You no longer have the willpower to risk getting hit (as a fighter).

What you showed me was two guys losing their cool and getting into a wrestling match. I think MAB getting physical after Hamed’s takedown sent a message that two can play this game if that’s how Naseem wanted to play it, but regardless tempers surely flared.