hamed what if

Hameds style was the downfall of him

 

PowerPuncher has made some great points.

It is clear to see that Hamed's legs were never gone from KD's. Either he has the greatest powers of recovery I have ever seen or the knockdowns were because he was off balance. I'm sure the haters would rather admit the latter.

To be honest, he has ATG power at 118, 122 and 126, even if the opponents he faced weren't fantastic. They were however very good, and there's no shame in not stopping the likes of Wayne McCullough. People also forget that the likes of Boom Boom, Kelley and Vasquez were highly-respected veterans (Vasquez for one was bigger than Naz and had, admittedly disputed, a win over Canizales) and Naz destroyed them. He was P4P top ten for years. and was his own downfall.

He has one loss (ON POINTS) to a possible top 50-70 P4P ATG and retired on a win. I think he did alright for himself to be honest, and I think most would agree that he had a very, very good chin, and for all of his bravado, was a true Warrior.

 

Most of those fights happened at the end of his opponents careers or past their best. Remember who promoted him? He did face some name opponents, but Barrera was by far his biggest fight. Kelley still near his prime? I dont think so, not even close, the cobrita fight ruined him.
Ill agree alot of Hameds knockdowns were because he was out of position or off balance, but it happened a lot. How many times did his punching power bail him out of a fight he was losing? Hamed was exciting and fun to watch, but he had a lot of defensive flaws.
As far as him falling in love with his power, I would say his style was even worse in the beginning of his career and more reliant on his power. Didnt he go out and hire Emanuel Steward, to tighten his style up, and then he moved onto Oscar Suarez, another good solid technical trainer?

 

I think by this time if Hamed kept going after the Barrera and Calvo fights, he would be finished as an elite fighter, even though he would still be just 34 years old. Fighters like Hamed, Roy Jones,and Ali, who got away with doing things fundamentaly wrong because of their great speed and reflexes, once age sets in and slows them down, they become very vulnerable and don't have the textbook fundamental foundations because they never used them. Ali got by after he lost hisskills because of a very strong will and great chin. Hamed IMO didn't have either.