If Hamed's career was 15 years later

The only thing that would have hindered his star power was his lack of world class ability, a fight between him and Floyd at super feather might have been a smash, but Floyd would have landed even more counters on Hamed than Barrera did, all the 'l`s that would have been on his record would have hurt his aura of invincibility that he developed during his weaker era, Manny would have destroyed Naz at feather.

 

Without a doubt his career would've been much different if he'd turned pro later.

Honestly, I've always believed his career was cut short because of 9/11.

Hamed was one of those guys who you either loved or loved to hate. (I tended to be one of those guys who wanted to see him beaten.) That said, his fights were always very exciting. He was pompous, but it was often done with sort of a "wink." He was fun to root against. And he was fun when he scored a dramatic KO. It wasn't like he was skating by being gifted a lot of dodgy decisions. He'd take your head off.

He beat all the champions at featherweight. He was bigger than the belts, and he proved it by beating one champ after another and then just dumping their belts after he won them as his star continued to rise.

His fight with Kelley in New York was all action. After that, he seemed to be steering away from the UK and looking to conquer the U.S. market, fighting in the UK for one fight and the U.S. the next time.

He engaged in his first PPV in the U.S. with Barrera. I paid for it. I loved it when Barrera won. However, it wasn't the one-sided victory it's remembered as today. The fight was fairly close. It certainly warranted a rematch on PPV.

The return bout would've been big box office on either side of the Atlantic.

The lone loss didn't appear to damage his marketability at all.

But five months after the Barrera fight, 9/11 occurred. Violence against Muslims broke out around the U.S. There was a real war fever going on the U.S. at the time.

Even the most popular country band in the U.S. (The Dixie Chicks) were effectively banished for speaking out against going to war.

In that environment, the Prince's "shtick" wouldn't have played in NY or Vegas or anywhere else at the time. And wouldn't for years. Promoters (and Hamed) seemed to realize that.

Hamed ended up taking nearly a year off, and then sort of putting on a less than stellar fight in the UK in 2002. Then he retired at 28.

It just seemed very premature. If there hadn't been such an anti-Muslim, and such a pro-war fever during those years ... which continued throughout much of the decade ... I think Hamed could've continued on an upward trajectory in the US. I don't think he wanted to just be a "domestic" star.

He had the "whole world" in his sights. And then the mood changed drastically.

What was going on in the "real world" seemed to impact his career negatively.

To be honest, I was SHOCKED he didn't get voted into the Boxing Hall of Fame in Canastota on the first ballot, and I remain convinced he was passed over initially because of lingering bias.

 

what hamed should have done is control his weight

he never really should have gone above bantam 118

at 5.3 he was very very short for 126 fighter
its not easy fighting taller longer fighters

hagler /tyson are the only fighters i can think dominated divisions that they were naturally short for and hagler to the eye test had freakishly long reach given his height.

 

I hope you’re being sarcastic. Hamed had nothing to do with terrorists and didn’t share extremist views of another wildly popular Muslim boxer named Muhammad Ali. Americans embraced Rahman and Tyson who were both Muslim. Hamed married a white woman. Hamed had some hand issues and didn’t have his head in boxing when he quit.

 

Hamed was 5’4 with a 64 inch reach. That’s fairly normal for 126, especially in reach.

 

I never said he had anything to do with terrorists. Where on earth did you get that?

The Dixie Chicks didn't have anything to do with terrorists, either.

I'm saying the anti-Muslim/pro-war climate in the U.S. throughout much of the decade after 9/11 effectively ended his run here.

Nobody wanted to hear Middle Eastern Muslim bragging about wiping out American boxers or going on and on about Allah. It was a toxic environment here. None of that would fly. In fact, HBO essentially stopped covering Hamed after 9/11. He was a focus of their boxing coverage up to the Barrera fight, and then they cut him loose and never really spoke much of him again.

Which they didn't typically do after a high-profile loss when they hyped a boxer like they did him. They seemed to want to distance themselves from him.

And Ali, Rahman, Saad Muhammad, Eddie Mustafa, etc. where all more Black Muslims (Nation of Islam) types. That really had nothing to do with traditional Islam. A black man in prison learned a little about Islam and then created his own religion (The Nation of Islam) that was more about Black Power - keeping whites and blacks separate. Demanding a separate nation. Space ships arriving to take believers to a "mother ship."

In fact, when Elijah Muhammad died, his son took over the organization and decided to take it more in a traditional Islam path ... and the organization split, with Louis Farrakhan carrying on the "black Muslim" (hate white people) path/tradition. They are really nothing alike.

 

Apart from an obscure tune-up in Spain against Manuel Calvo, Hamed didn’t even fight post 9/11, so he didn’t even test your theory. Even if you were correct, he still could’ve taken his act to England and earned millions. What you’re saying just doesn’t add up because Hamed left the game before it he could even see how Americans reacted to him.

 

Not true. The Barrera/Morales/Pacquiao/Marquez era was about to explode, and Hamed was all of 27 or 28, and they didn't hype him as a future opponent of really anyone. They sort of cut him loose. Guys like Barrera would lose to Morales, and HBO would push to get him right back on the air against Ayala or Morales would lose and they'd rush him back on the air against Kelley or someone else.

That collection of fighters were white hot. And Hamed was one of them. But after 9/11, HBO wasn't pushing to get him back on the air or bring him back to the States or to even fly over to Europe to cover his return bout.

They were out. They didn't announce it publicly. But their silence was deafening. At any other point in HBO's history, a Hamed comeback and a series of fights with those guys would've been huge.

I don't recall HBO ever talking about Hamed against them after 9/11.

 

From wiki:
12]

Final fight vs. CalvoEdit
On 18 May 2002 at London Arena, Docklands, London, Hamed returned to the ring for what turned out to be his final boxing match, against the European champion Manuel Calvo (33 wins, 4 losses, 1 draw) for the International Boxing Organization World featherweight title.[13] Hamed was booed by the 10,000 fans as he won unconvincingly on points after 12 rounds looking sluggish and uninterested. The judges scored the fight 120-110 and 119-109 (twice).[14] In a post-fight interview with Ian Darke, Hamed assured a quick return to the ring, which ultimately never happened. For years, Hamed did not confirm whether he had retired or not; there were talks of several fights in the UK and in the US, included Hamed's brother and manager, Riath, speaking to HBO about a potential fight with Michael Brodie.

In an interview for BBC Radio Sportsweek, Hamed said that his retirement was largely due to chronic problems with his hands, including multiple fractures as well as surgery.[15]

 

If anything, promoters would have capitalized on that and really played him up as the villain. This is boxing, and there's really no such thing as going too low for a promotion (look at the farce of Mayweather/McGregor as a recent example).

People getting wise to the violent instructions of Muhammad didn't kill Hamed's career. Hamed packing on a bunch of weight and living the good life did.

 

Hamed also had a rematch clause with Barrera that he didn’t take. And his brother was also notoriously difficult to negotiate with may have stalled his comeback and caused him to drift into retirement.

Hamed looked crappy for Augie Sanchez, Barrera, and Calvo. I think he was done.

 

Floyd Mayweather had chronic problems with his hands going back to his days as a super featherweight.

He's still fighting. (Or threatening to.)

Hamed thought he was coming back to the U.S. But he couldn't find any takers. The climate had changed essentially overnight.

 

Barrera looked crappy against Junior Jones, too.

Hamed was a bigger star than all of them. HBO just cut him loose. It was not a good time in the U.S. to be a pompous, arrogant, taunting Muslim. It wasn't even a good time to stick up for them.

Like I said, his shtick didn't work here anymore. What was all done in good fun wasn't anymore.

 

That's kind of what they did and how they promoted him "before" 9/11. After 9/11, there were no takers.

After 9/11, that shtick wasn't going to work.

Certainly not in New York.

That's why they didn't.