1995 - wins against Castro, Liendo, Angeles, Perez and Robinson for his first world title (WBO) - becomes youngest British world champ ever. 1996 - Destroy's Said Lawal in 35 seconds in first WBO defence. Also beat Molina, Medina (best opponent so far) and Alicea. 1997 - Unifies IBF and WBO titles with win against Tom Johnson. Defends unified titles against Cabrera, and WBO title against Badillio and Kevin Kelley @ MSG. 1998 - beats WBA champ in Vasquez, establishes lineage. Also beats McCullough 1999 - Unifies WBC and WBO with win over Soto. Also beats Ingle. 2000 - His physical peak, and his career best win over Vuyani Bungu.
1997 when he broke into America. The Bungu win was one of my favourites though. Lovely left hand straight down the middle to finish him if I remember correctly.
Interesting, I was actually gonna create a thread asking if there was a year he could ever be considered p4p great? Any info on that?
He was at his best '95, deteriated and got too arrogant after that letting his skills erode after that
Also do you think if nerves didn't get to him and had a rematch with barrera would he have won? I mean barrera is a legend so maybe not?
He was P4P top5 coming into the Barrera fight but had deteriated allot by that stage. At his best he was a phenomenal talent, his reactions, timing, athleticism and what a puncher. By the end he was just relying on landing the big KO shots while ignoring his boxing skills
I dont think 2000 was his physical peak, I thought that was 1995ish, his power, speed & reflexes all had a perfect blend at that time... he improved his power later on but at the expense of his speed & reflexes. The Hamed that beat Robinson was the best Hamed IMO, Id have loved to see that version vs Barrera, I think he has a real shot to paste him but I wouldnt bet big either way. :good
2 things you need to beat Naz that are ESSENTIAL.... a good chin & elite boxing skills, thats why Barrera beat Naz... Morales exceeds Barrera in both those categories so Naz KOing Morales is a prayer, nothing more.
i'm switching back and forth on hamed vs morales. on one hand, morales gets sucked into brawls too much which is bad news with a powerful accurate counterpuncher like hamed. on the other hand, morales had pretty good defence and a granite chin - even when old, he ate pac's straight lefts all night in their 2nd fight - which tells me he drags hamed into deep waters, and hamed doesn't have the mental strength to hang with morales in the championship rounds.