Is Prince Naseem Hamed underrated?

Yes I think so especially on this forum.

15 title defences, lineal champion, beat a host of ranked top 10 fighters, one of the hardest hitting Featherweights of all time.

I'm not a fan of Hamed but you have to respect his achievements.

I'd have him between 15-20 best Featherweight of all time.

 

Yeah he definitely gets underrated.

Love him or hate him he was extremely entertaining.........and boy could he bang. Incredible power for a featherweight.

He essentially hit to hard for his own hands as towards the end of his career they were blown to bits.

 

I feel he's the sort of fighter that could pull off an upset. his athleticism and showmanship can be fatal toward an opponent, he was as mentally dominating as he was physically.

 

He was an ATG that mentally checked out by the time he fought Barrera due to his hand issues and missing his family during his training camps.

 

I think he's a bit underrated because of what a heel he was. Which is a bit of a shame -- watch his fights in his prime. Unreal. One of the hardest P4P punchers ever.

Kind of... sad... to see what he looks like now. And strange. How does someone with that much natural athleticism not do the minimum required for those great genes to stay reasonably fit?

 

I saw him fight live twice (Vasquez, Ingle) and he was amazing to watch. Such an unusual style and dynamite power. It’s more obvious with hindsight (isn’t it always?) that he had chronic hand issues which influenced his training and performances. At the end of the day, his only loss was to Barrera, I thought he was a special fighter.

 

What hurts his legacy (or estimation) to me (and I suspect others) was once he lost he took his ball and went home.

A great fighter avenges that defeat … or at least tries. Instead he checked out, had himself a farewell fight against a nothing opponent and then retired.

Not the stuff of legend.

 

I think he’s a little overrated. He definitely has a cult like following, not unlike Tyson, who go on about his “prime” and rate him mystically rather than what happened. There wasn’t a lot of quality on his resume, at least quality prime guys, and the best guy he faced, it wasn’t like he moved up testing himself, and he was badly dominated. He had a lot of power and a unique style, but also was very flawed. A good fighter but not close to being a great one IMO.

 

He's underrated from sure, mostly due to him being one of those guys that people simply don't like, or hate more commonly. We see it with certain fighters all the time. Personal feelings clouding the ability to praise or judge fairly. The trouble for Hamed is that this isn't balanced out as he doesn't really have any nuthuggers/blind devotees (not in here) so he ends up a bit underrated across the collective. I'm not saying he's a top 5 Feather or anything just that he's better than he's usually credited.

 

Speaking as a UK fan Hamed was thrilling when he started! Many of us genuinely thought we had a pocket sized Ali on our hands. But as with so many star UK fighters he was overhyped and got rich and lazy very quickly before flaming out. I think the typical reaction in the US is another British weirdo who got what was coming! Like many fighters whose style is dependant on an almost superhuman self regard when he lost face his evaporated.

Skillswise and potential he is lightyears ahead of fighters like Eubank and Benn, but I rate those two higher overall as UK greats because they came back from defeats and proved their heart time and again.

I rate Hamed like a Michael Nunn or Don Curry sort of fighter. Wonderful to watch, bags of potential but seeming to lack that extra something that their obvious skills required to become an ATG, although of course both Michael and Don did come back from crushing defeats to win again so perhaps he is a notch or two below them. With Don it was more of a fragile physical issue while Nunn was perhaps more like Hamed as having some personality issues.

One thing is that unlike Honeyghan or Hatton he does not have any crushing humiliating KO losses on his record, he never looked in trouble against Barrera, just tired and without a plan B. That is what makes that fight so frustrating!

Extra thought, I think he is a fighter who will rise in peoples estimation as younger folks check out his fights on Youtube as he is simply so unique and fun to watch! Perhaps he will end up with more of a following in the future than other better regarded fighters with more conventional styles? As someone mentioned on here he is likely to develop a cult following, if he doesn't have one already.

 

He was the highest paid fighter in the world, outside of Holyfield at his peak.

A work friend of mine met him at the Hajj.

 

He was quite the spectacle, which makes him made for YouTube for sure.

 

He was probably a little overrated by casuals whilst active, but I think some hardcore fans now underrate his resume.

I rank Naz at #19 at FW all time. He was 19-1 at the weight, including 6-1 in lineal world title fights during his 3-year reign.

He beat Kevin Kelley, Wilfredo Vasquez, Manuel Medina, Tom Johnson, Cesar Soto, Yuyani Bungu, Paul Ingle and Steve Robinson.

According to my notes, Naz went 8-1 against top 5 ring magazine contenders.

6-1 in lineal world title fights and 8-1 against top 5 contenders is only bettered by FWs you typically find ranked top 10 all time. Whilst he lost to the only ATG he faced, those are some pretty decent fighters he beat.

 

Interesting post as always Greg!