It was competitve (although i only gave Naz 3 rounds most) But Barrera showed the way to beat him and beat him very clearly. Not often you see that at that high level. I'd say it was a schooling
I think Barrera thoroughly outboxed and outpunched a fighter who was expected to beat him easily. The odds were at 4-1 if I remember correctly. Ludicrous considering Marco had not long ago arguably beat the second best Super Bantamweight ever, and has put on a tremendous showcase of talent against the aging veteren Jesus Salud. The odd makers sometimes make mistakes, this was one of those occasions. The notion that Naseem Hamed was past his prime is silly. He looked equally as vunerable in fights against Sanchez and Kelley, neither fighters being elite, and were capable of knocking the Prince down. The moment any version of Naz came up against a well schooled fighter with pop, he was going to be in trouble. He came up against the best Mexican fighter of the last 15 years in my estimation, and it was a hell of a performance.
I don't think it is, in fact I think he definitely was Not saying that the fight would have played out differently at any other time, that's unanswerable But his whole attitude, focus and camp was clearly not what it should be by that point in time
MAB seized an opportunity... he did not school Naz, he excecuted his plan to an excellent level... He boxed Naz on the outside the way nobody had ever tried or had the ability to try and excecute. He also showed Naz that he would not be intimidated nor be allowed to be roughed up by his unorthodox style...:bbb Many people will argue about a prime Naz and prime MAB...In what year and what weight.... They met when they did and MAB did what he did... end of...:yep It pens the question for me about Naz's mental strength to come back following a defeat at the top level...:think He didn't so it answers itself, although others may disagree...:think I think that if Naz and MAB were to box 10 or 100 times I think that MAB is the man that would have Naz's number everytime...:yep What do you reckon?
As close as it gets. The reason why it perhaps isn't is because he won 3 or 4 rounds at best. It just didn't feel like he did because of the expectations and the manner of the fight, so people forget that.
My original thought was 'no' but if a schooling is just out-thinking and out-boxing somebody then yeah I guess it was, but then that would mean that a hell of a lot of fights are schoolings. Its certainly not on a hopkins/pavlik jones/toney mayweather/hatton type level is it
I'm tempted to call it a schooling, but don't. It depends how you define 'schooling' someone - is it a boxing lesson (Hopkins-Pavlik), beating (Calzaghe-Lacy) or something inbetween, say Mayweather-Hatton perhaps? In this instance, Hamed won 3/4 of 12 rounds - but the fight was never really THAT close - Barrera was ahead pretty much throughout and always looked the better fighter in there. Contrast this to another 116-112 fight, Calzaghe vs Kessler - I would say that was a much closer fight despite the cards being near as damn it identical. Kessler was, at worst, level at the midway stage and gave JC a few hairy moments in the 4th round. I guess a lot of people consider it a schooling because they WANT to, without actually studying the fight at close quarters, instead taking the view that Naz was an arrogant ****, they wanted him to lose anyway and make up their own views.
Regarding that fight and many fights, its a case of him " having his number " Schooling = a leathering that didnt get stopped. Not the case with that fight.
Naz stepped up in class and lost to a far better fighter the same way Hatton did but he had the ability to stay upright.