Marco Antonio Barrera vs Prince Naseem Hamed

This sums up in one sentence what I try to say whenever this discussion comes round.I put a bet on Barrera at 4 to one,and when Naz started moaning about the gloves and then for the first time didn't jump the top rope I thought Id win the bet.Id put the same bet on any time in their careers.Naz was world class but Marco an all time great.Hamed looked happy enough not to be stopped,and IMO would have been against Morales.

 

If you watch the fight again in full, end of round six, the look in Naseems eyes when he takes his stool says it all. He'd realised by then, he was out of his depth.

 

Very fair post and I agree with your fight choices.

 

Will do Phil.Must admit I enjoyed his run,but the writing was on the wall I thought a few fights previously that when he came up against a world class still hungry fighter who wasn't slightly past his best,that he was going to lose.

 

Pity Herol Graham wasn't the 90s featherweight from the sheffield gym and hamed the 80s middleweight.

Hamed could have sunk into being remembered as a dangerous contender without ever winning a title( and who would be widely defeated or stopped when he fought the top fighters like kalambay, jackson and mccallum)

and Graham would easily gather up the titles in the workmanlike mid-late 90s feather scene and be ideally positioned when Marco and erik moved up to be involved in some excellent high-profile fights(and take close decisions from both:yep) that would actually be competitive and interesting, rather than the by then borderline incompetent in most areas Hamed making a **** of himself and making fighters seem much more multi-faceted than they really were.

Things would have worked out much better for boxing history.

 

My favourite bit

 

That's really interesting and different post. And it nails a lot of my feelings around Hamed. Nobody was higher on themselves than Naz, and he was a proper c**t about it 99% of the time. I mean Ali was full of himself, but most of the time he was upping the gate and had a twinkle in his eye - plus he was the real deal, an all time great.

Naz was just so high on himself he became out of touch with basics of what made him a very good fighter in the first place. He became a walking parody of himself and susceptible to defeat, where was never as great as he thought he was in the first place.

You do wonder - if he had a decent head on his shoulders and a commitment to keep improving as a fighter - what might he have been?

 

a parody of himself is exactly right.

 

great match, seen many times, never gets old for me. My favourite part is when they are in a clinch, break out and hamed hits him, barrera hits him right back and makes a gesture, bell rings and he walks off like the boss he is. merchant's comment was the icing on the cake "..and that's why he is.. Barrera"

 

The reason it was such a classy performance was not simply because Barrera entered with a game-plan, but rather because the game-plan itself was made of pure concrete.

So precise and economic was Marco you could forgive casuals for thinking this was the rubber match of a one-sided trilogy.

It was Hamed's game (similar to Roy Jones) to shackle you with doubt, so fast could they remove themselves; instead Barrera just stared a hole through the elastic-slugger and burnt every one of his arrogant whims.

So efficiently did the Mexican do this that he turned Hamed's tactic on its head, reducing the Prince to uncomfortable jeering and posturing. The lame hope to unsettle his master was more predictable than government disappointment. Come round twelve, Barrera's stamina, guard - everything was as it had been in round one, depressingly so.

Sometimes a good technical dismantling can hurt more than a physical one.

The favourite didn't just lose, he was shown up.

 

One of the most hypocritical posts I have ever seen.

 

Agree with this and also the post you agreed with was interesting.Excellent fighter,but up himself,said he was gonna be a legend,but wasn't.I didn't like all the pseudo American"baby" stuff.Same reason Im not sold on Elton John,brilliant musician but temperamental and sings like a Yank.

 

Well,he's obviously a fan of the guy,Flea Man.He goes over the top somewhat,also,but can't see in essence too much wrong in what he says.Hamed would have been at a severe disadvantage,I think,with Morales.Too tall,too tough and too hungry.Pity well never know now.