Do you think Prince Naseem retired because of Barrera

Saad54 · Jan 5, 2018

Dubblechin said: ↑

In all honesty, I thought his career ended because of 9/11.

Hamed was a great character. A dominant champ. He beat all the champs at featherweight. He made a move to try to crack the U.S. market. He was supposed to be a PPV star.

I couldn't wait. I loved the guy.

His loss to Barrera was a shock, because he was supposed to destroy Barrera, like Junior Jones had when he stopped him.

There was talk of an immediate rematch on PPV in the U.S. again.

Then 9/11 happened. Hamed's act of entering the arena on flying carpets and praising Allah and all that, as a foreign national, just wasn't going to be accepted in the U.S., no matter that he was a British citizen.

People in the U.S. wanted blood. Foreign-born Muslims weren't welcome here. The administration at the time wanted to invade everywhere. Hell, the biggest country band in the world at the time, the Dixie Chicks, were essentially blackballed and had their careers ruined because they were against starting a war in the Middle East. If the Dixie Chicks were Muslims, they probably would've been killed.

People now forget how practically the whole of the U.S. (and all media outlets) were out for blood. Hamed's career in the U.S. was essentially over.

He was going to be stuck fighting in Europe. He always wanted to be a bigger star than that. He wanted to conquer the U.S. market. But he was essentially banished.

He fought again in the UK, but he was listless. He didn't want fights like that. He wanted the huge stars ... who were all content to fight in the U.S. And Hamed couldn't fight there. And boxing in the UK back then wasn't like it is now. The U.S. was where all the action was.

People point to his lack of desire and all that, but I firmly believe that lack of desire came from the fact that he wasn't going to be able to fight the best boxers in the U.S. for the foreseeable future. And that sent him into a depression.

And it's a shame. I still think he should've been a first ballot hall of famer. But he could've been even greater if he'd been allowed to relocate to the U.S. and got to fight more names. His passport was still good and all that, but U.S. promoters wouldn't touch him after 9/11.

Hamed was "too Muslim" at that point in history for the U.S. to welcome him.
Click to expand...

There may be something to that.

But, I think he could have attracted contenders to fight him in the UK or fought elsewhere in Europe if he was skittish about fighting in the US

Log in or Sign up

Do you think Prince Naseem retired because of Barrera

Saad54 Boxing Junkie Full Member

Log in or Sign up

Forums

Do you think Prince Naseem retired because of Barrera

Saad54 Boxing Junkie Full Member