I always figured Barrera to beat Hamed. He was an old school fighter who expertly used a feint to get into range and punch. That's the perfect style against a reflexive fighter like Hamed. He leans back over his back foot when he is triggered so when the punch comes he has nowhere to go.
Spot on post , a fully prepared naz for that fight would have made it a great fight for the ages, I'm not saying he would have won mind.
Massively entertaining of course but when you break it down he didn’t really beat any big names. Loads of fighters cutting about back then and he didn’t fight any of them (I’m talking in and around featherweight). I love watching his fights he was a very talented man. Did he not leave a man for dead during a car accident? This one leaves a sour taste. Also preaching all the religion nonsense whilst taking coke and banging whores (I’ve done both but I’m an atheist so I’m ok!)
I agree with that but also think that’s mentally crumbling to some extent. Maybe it was arrogance but if it was he’d have been confident walking in and for the intros. It’s the why try hard and still lose mentality, when I can not try and still have that justification for losing. He was a front runner and bully. I’m a huge fan of his though, the fighter anyway. He got me into boxing. Remember watching him as a kid and not understanding why the adults wanted him to lose. I’m ashamed to say some of that was driven by racism but am proud of the fact that as a 6/7 year old kid I just saw him as a British boxer who was great to watch and questioned why they were supporting a Mexican over a Brit. He really was hated.
Similar things have happened with Khan, I remember people thinking it was brilliant when he lost to Prescott and I just couldn't understand it, I'm pretty sure if he was a white kid he'd have had a far bigger support. I want fighters like Broner and Gervonta to lose, not because they're black but because their attitudes stink, it goes deeper than just a front they put on, they are just bang out wrong with the way that they carry on. As a kid I could see that Naseem behaved the way he did because that was his way of focusing, well that's what I thought anyway and kind of still do. I suppose if my job was to get in a ring with hundreds, thousands, possibly millions wanting me to lose I'd develop a slightly arrogant persona as a defence mechanism, especially if I felt my race was one of the reasons I was disliked.
Thing with Naz was the warning signs were there before Barerra. The Kelly fight was a huge wake up call that any decent counter puncher could hit Naz as he put himself into bad positions so often. His power meant no matter who he fought he would of always been in a fight but if Naz would of continued to fight the elite after Barerra he would have been beaten again. Morales would have knocked Naz out. JMM would have counted punched him to death. If he moved up Floyd would have mad Naz look silly. If anything it's a shame that the power he was blessed with meant he didn't really appreciate mastering the other things which makes a fighter great.
Talented and highly entertaining no doubt about it but really, who did he beat? throughout his career there were A list fighters in and around his division. He only fought Barrera then pretty much retired. I seen naz in an interview a few months back claiming he would have battered mayweather and the fan boys lap it up. Floyd, Barrera, morales, Marquez, pacquiao all moved up and fought the best and will be remembered as HOF/ATG. Naz simply didn’t.
He ruled the weakest featherweight division in living memory.The FW division was weak in the 1990s...the fact an also ran like medina was a constant and a guy like robinson was a quite dominant wbo champ says it all.....but hamed wiped out that division easily. Salvador Sanchez,Pedroza,Nelson,Esparragoza,and McGuigan in the 1980s were better. The 2000s and 2010"s crop also superior
Pretty unfair imo. I m not sure it had anything to do with race. Amir khan was the most supported kid in the olympics. The vast majority of brits we,re rooting for the kid. As his career moved on the public started seeing warren was taking liberties with the fights....dragging guys up divisions etc. Plus khans personality never helped either. It kind of goes back to britain loving an underdog. Khans opponents at the time...we,re massive underdogs. Warren was bringing them over...dragging them up a division...finding guys that couldnt punch...with his own judges/ref etc all the while telling us how amazing khan was. Same with naseem. Britain doesnt like arrogance like that. Regardless of colour and naseems arrogance was off the charts. For me it was great....but you pay a price for it. I,ve no doubt there will have been racists that wanted them to lose for the colour of their skin etc. But we,re talking about the small minority that every country unfortunately has. Any white man with the same personality would have been treated the same. Look at the hate froch and fowler get now. Who are not anywhere near the level of nazeem in terms of arrogance. Khan was loved in the beginning....everyone i knew was rooting for him. Racists dont tend to work like that.
@EJC83 absolute 100% bull****. Amir is the most manufactured British boxer ever! His fame and support has always been far too high for his ability/achievements! Compare Amirs level of fame after the Olympics to fellow young GB Olympic Silver medalist Fred Evans! Who was always unknown and never got 1% of the fame/press/sponsorships Khan did. He even got far more fame than Olympic GOLD medalist Luke Campbell ffs! Ive never known a guy come 2nd and get the red carpet treatment Khan did for coming runners up. Khan always was MORE of a bigger name than he should have been vecause he was British-Asian/muslim. Because they are so poor at sport.The media chucked him in everyones faces Khan got everything on a plate to succeed. He was the main event on primetime ITV ahead of world title fights ffs. Hes the most pampered and manufactured brit fighter ever. He was loved at first, but his personality, delusionals and flaws in the ring put many people off him. Look even now, hes the most followed current boxer in the world on twitter. Hes always had massive levels of fame despite being probably the biggest laughing stock in boxing.
This is such a flashback driven video. I got the update that the last review of his span was not that good.
Hamed didnt have any weaknesses. Its forgotten he had real heart. He was the linear ruler of 122-126 from 1995 to 1999 regardless of his avoiding morales & barrera or tapia & ayala...when the time came when he had to face all of them he started with Barrera and ended there....a shame ..at 27..he could've spent 3-4 years finally meeting those guys or marquez,may weather, corrales or casamayor or mosley. The point is he ruled 122-126 in a very weak odd lacklustre era. The same argument can be made of amir khan at 140 during 2009-11 he ruled a weak 140lbs division he beat an ageing judah which was a bigger win than tom johnson plus maidana...he didnt lose his titles there as far as im concerned...he moved in with the big boys at 147 got exposed...but amir deserves far greater respect for fighting canelo,crawford and garcia ....whilst naz fought 1 such elite foe.
