Did Prince Naseem Hamed retire too young?

I would've preferred him to fight more, but Hamed apparently didn't want to fight anymore. If a guy lacks the desire to really take the sport seriously, and has made a lot of $$ and has his health, then good for him.

 

He probably made the right decision, despite his relatively young age. If the fire in his belly had died then there was no point carrying on half heartedly. Judging by recent photos of him the fire may have gone out of his belly but plenty of food has gone in. I'm sure he has regrets.

 

he didnt have the heart to realize that he wasnt the best and that he got beaten badly by one of the best of this era.

 

Yes

 

no.

he was a man who relied heavily on his physical tools to avoid incoming shots and those reflexes were declining.

i don't think he had it in him to adapt his game to continue at a high level.

 

Without a young man's reflexes he was a very ordinary fighter. He wasn't capable of doing what Ali did and change his gameplan as he aged.

He quit at the right time.

 

he was only 27, his reflexes were still there, reflexes dont fade when your as young as 27.everything was there but his heart for the sport, his disire for the sport evaporated before the kelly fight,

 

No.
3 poor performances in a row for whatever reason. Far better to retire too early than too late. Had a very fun career and fell just short of greatness. Not to shabby imo.

 

Yes: in that he had good, if unorthodox, boxing skills to fall back on, skills that he had let go to **** in the fights leading up to and including the Barrera debacle.

No: in that his image of himself as the greatest was shattered by the Barrera loss; his confidence was ****ed. He had dominated a weak division for so long that he had started to believe in all the crap that he was talking (and that his brothers were probably feeding into his ear). When Barrera and Morales moved up from SBW almost simultaeously he had to either fight one of them, or jump to SFW, which would have meant a clash with an unbeaten PBF and Chico (that was never gonna happen). Naz was schooled by Barrera, and I don't think his ego could take coming back into the mix and being at best just another alphabet title-holder, being mentioned behind the two great mexicans (three if you count Marquez) who would be dominating the division.

 

He retired to young for us boxing fans. But he made alot of money and can watch his kids grow unlike alot of other athletes

 

Exactly how I feel.

When a fighter doesn't feel like fighting anymore, that's the right time to retire. Most just can't do that, though.

 

of course he did

 

naz isnt an ATG but even if had beaten morales and pacquio (there styles are taylored for Hameds) people wouldnt still recognise hamed as being a great fighter, morales and pacquios stock would just go down

 

Yes definitely . . . 27 ??? And it is at the stage where he needs to make a comeback after only one loss.

He left too many unanswered questions.