That night could have been Naz's first defeat, Kelly was giving him a lesson until he decided to try ko Naz. I truly believe that if he had continued to use his speed he would have got the win. But credit is due to Naz for finishing him!!
I remember it being very exciting and the american commentators drooling over hameds power but looking at it now it shows some glaring flaws in hameds skills especially when fighting a top yank
Kevin had a big height advantage and huge reach advantage. Going into 95 people were considering Kelley in the top 5 P4P with Jones, McClellan, Whitaker, Chavez. He found his 91-94 form again that night against Naz.
Naz said after the fight that the TV people had kept him behind the screen too long. He was convinced they were trying to rattle him.
What a fight, wish we had nights like that again now. before the fight it was Exciting, tough fight. Then the fight, the knockdowns, boss night
Kelley was IMO the 2nd best Featherweight at the time in an admittedly weak division, not handpicked at all. He didn't have one of the major alphabet belts when he fought Hamed but I would have had him a slight favourite against all of the other top FW's at the time except Naz. Espinosa Vazquez Johnson Soto Norwood I would have picked the Kelley of 97 to beat all those guys.
