How would you rate Naseem as a talent? In his prime, his power was tremendous at his weight. Great speed, footwork, aggressiveness, and recovery time. He gets knocked down but never seems to be hurt. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YaWmJ5SKNP4
his prime IMO was actually before he became champ. as a bantamweight and super bantam where his 5.3 height was not so detrimental , and the fact he was in great shape and condition compared to himself as a feather. he was soft in many fights when he stepped up to feathr where he was ripped before. as a bantam/122 he was a monster.
As an elite fighter. Very tricky, very fast and a vicious puncher. Barerra had Naz's number, he was not 'exposed' as a bad fighter in that fight. It was just a horrible clash of styles for Hamed. That was past his prime anyways.
In his prime - Nas was 4 of 5 / 9 of 10 - he was damn near great at his prime. Undefeated - very talented - highly entertaining - fough high level of competition - KO Power.
He was amazing under Ingle and I still believe an Ingle trained Hamed would never have been humilated like he was by Barrera. After he left Ingle it was a downhill spiral, he was never the same fighter under Manny Steward and Oscar Suarez. Anyone remember Steward and Suarez taking turns as cornermen in one fight? What a joke he became atsch
On a scale if ten I would say prime Naz was an eight. His physical talent, including his power and reflexes, was amazing.
He was a lot less great than people say he was. I don't believe he was past his prime when he fought MAB, nor do I buy the excuse that when a fighter changes or drops his trainer he automatically forgets everything he's learned and forgets how to fight. Hamed was an over-hyped, egotistical clown who's ridiculous "unorthodox" style was shown up for what it really was by a solid fighter using only boxing basics. If you're gonna throw the rule book completely out of the window, you need a damn good reason to be able to do so. Hamed = utter crap. -10/10.
in his prime Naz was doing things never seen before in the ring, he was incredible to watch. I have NEVER seen someone have so much fun in the ring.
Yep. I think he was something like Zab.. Someone mentioned Zab accomplishing so little, with so much ability.. Honestly, I think Naz got lazy and stopped progressing as a fighter when he started going up in weight. Its like he plateaued, was decimating his opposition and didn't feel the need to progress.. Be it training and staying in shape, or learning new skills.
A very talent fighter and a great entertainer, who inspite of his accomplishments, did not live up to his true potential.