Barrera was beating Hamed with superior boxing ability that night. He essentially tamed The Prince with basics and good timing. That was a brilliant effort by Barrera which best represents his transition point from a skilled brawler to a fine-tuned tactician with a high ring IQ. I just think Barrera was all wrong for Hamed. It's funny, because Emanuel Steward was asked a question on a similar theme when he said this in an interview: His opinion on how Hamed would have fared against someone like Erik Morales or Juan Manuel Marquez: Well Ill be very honest with, Naz was great excitement. None of those guys still have really got to the level where he did in terms of crowd appeal, but I think they would have beat him. They were fundamentally too sound, and they were basically too sound for him as boxers. So they would have been a big problem for him. http://www.eastsideboxing.com/news.php?p=25534&more=1
Hamed won fights and acclaim by KTFOing fighters. That is just not happening with Morales and to a lesser extent JMM based on their chins. Add to this the fact that they could box well, I think they would comfortably win a decision. The only scenario I see Hamed winning would be if Morales decided to go toe to toe, exchanging punches, which he did foolishly at times during his career. it is not unimaginable that one of those Hamed bombs could put El Terrible on ***** street long enough to land one or two more bombs to put him out. I've never seen JMM do that in a situation that did not suit him.
Hamed would need to change allot, train harder, he just wasn't up for it so would have lost. However if the fight happened in 2005-2008 Hamed wins by KO, Hamed was better and MAB was much more reckless
I think Barrera would stop him late. It would be easier than the first fight. MAB would have realized that Naz was not really a one-punch murderer like Julian Jackson, and would be more aggressive with his combinations. Unless Hamed had suddenly developed a defence, he'd get tattooed with shots all night til either him, his corner or the ref decided enough was enough.
At that stage of his career, Naz was just too ingrained in his bad habits to have made the result any different the second time round. The likes of JMM and Morales would have also beaten him if they got their hands on him. But an earlier Naz would have been different. He was really awkward and extra explosive. That Naz would have given MAB, EM and JMM much more competitive fights.
