Naseem Hamed

If you're talking about Kelley knocking Hamed down a couple of times, they were all due to balance. Merchant and Foreman even point it out -- Hamed leaning back after throwing a flurry got clipped on the chin for the first one and naturally went down due to his body position, for example. Foreman also points out that while Kelley was managing to knock Hamed down due to his bad balance, Hamed was knocking Kelley down with 'pure power'. People make out like it was life and death for Hamed, but it really wasn't anything of the sort -- there's a distinct difference between a hurting KD and a flash KD. Pretty much every time Hamed went down he sprung right back up, and he NEVER looked like his legs were gone. Kelley did pose a few problems due to his better jab and good boxing skills, but Hamed was outboxing him right up until the first KD, and then got right up and actually made Kelley run from HIM at the end of the round. After he knocked Kelley down for the first time it was clear sailing from that point on.

 

if hamed could have bottled his 95 form throughout the rest of his career then he might have had a chance.

 

ahh...that brought back some fun memories. i'm going to have to get a hamed dvd set

 

So basically you are saying if Naseem Hamed didn't have all the traits that made him who he was he could have been better.

Well if I could scrap like Marciano, punch like Shavers and could move like Ali I'd have been pretty handy.

 

i have a boxed set of hamed's entire career. Hamed was winning the entire first round but was knocked down at the end of the round, won the second, they were both knocked down in the third (hameds glove touched canvas), same thing in the fourth but kelly was knocked out cold.

 

yeah, he had a great chin. The hardest knockdown he ever received was from Alicea who was a giant featherweight. Hamed took two huge right hands and got right back up to knock him out.

 

I loathed the ***** but yeah, he was exciting and by god he could dig.

 

Like you said the "clown" got lost in his own hype . . . and I'm happy he got his ass handed back to him by MAB.

It's really a big shame that it turned out he doesn't have the balls to carry on with his craps and bullshits, quiting only after one loss.

:rofl :rofl :rofl :rofl :rofl :rofl

 

i am going to agree with the sentiments of several of the other posters and say that the prince may not have been the greatest fighter in the world but damn was he entertaining to watch -- i miss him

 

I do a monthly boxing email for a few mates who are trying to get into boxing. This little Naz article is due to go in my April one...

'Prince' Naseem Hamed [/B]- the man, the myth, the legend!! Naseem was the most colourful British boxer (and to give him credit - probably the world) between 1995 - 2001. He won titles at Super-Bantamweight and Featherweight. He took the WBC, IBF and held the WBO for quite some time. He kayoed the equally brash Kevin Kelly in one of the fights of the decade in Madison Square Garden and established himself as one of the finest British boxers of his generation overcoming Wayne McCullough and Paul Ingle amongst others. His style was incomparable. Agility he had in abundance, he was lightening quick and he was one of the hardest punching featherweights to have graced the sport, as his record of 36-1(31KO) proves. He put bums on seats for years and thrust British boxing and the featherweight division into the spot light. And for all of this he deserves the highest praise.

But for me it was what Naseem didn’t do that leaves me somewhat disillusioned by his apparent success. Everyone knows that he was schooled by Barrera (7th April 2001 - hence the reason for the Naseem commentary in my April email) but that aside there are too many criticisms of Hamed to class him as anything other than a great British boxer rather than a great boxer. He (intentionally or not) avoided fighting the best in the division until his defeat to Barrera. Wins over Kevin Kelly, Tom Johnson and Medina were good and left him ranked as number one in the weight. But he was beaten by the only genuine world class fighter he stepped in the ring with. At the time the featherweight division was littered with prospects and champions such as; Morales, In-Jin Chi, Johnny Tapia, Paulie Ayala, and to a lesser extent Eduardo Alvarez (probably not as highly rated by most) and Arturo Gatti (who had probably just begun to climb the weights by 2000/2001). Yes he fought and beat Vasquez but the guy was 37 at the time!!

Naseem's career was as up and down as his discipline. After 11 fights he mercilessly battered Belcastro for the European Bantamweight crown. A tremendous achievement for a fighter so young and inexperienced. He went on to stop Steve Robinson within 8 rounds for the WBO Featherweight title, making him Britain's youngest ever world champion at **. After a couple of defences (one of which saw Hamed hit the floor for the first time in his career) Naseem took on Manuel Medina. Although experienced, the ageing Mexican should have been a routine defence for Hamed. However, Naseem's relative inexperience at this level showed. He tried to pick off Medina with single punches. At times he almost jumped into an oncoming jab trying to land a hook of his own. Hamed took some punishment in the fight but was able to retire Medina in his stool at the end of round 10. A chorus of boos greeted the champion from the clearly unimpressed crowd.

Better times were to follow with wins over Johnson for the IBF title and Sotto for the WBC (despite these fights being some more lacklustre performances). A few more mandatory defences came Kevin Kelly. Naseem beat the Yank within 4 rounds. This was an absolute brawl. Here for me lies one of the fundamental flaws of Naseem Hamed. Revert back to my first paragraph… he was like the proverbial sh*t off a shovel, agile as they come and could throw punches from unbelievable angles while being the hardest hitter around at the time. This all went to pot far too often. Against Kelly he reverted back to the Medina performance. Looking to end the fight with one punch. In the end he did knock his man out, but it was far harder work than it should have been. There was also the disgrace of Nas completely ignoring his long term trainer's (Brendan Ingle) instructions in the corner. All this was the backdrop to the Barrera fight. As unbelievable as it seems now, Naseem was favourite on the night. It was believed that Barrera was too easy to hit and Naseem was stronger than his foe. Some critics even suggested that Naseem only took the fight after Barrera was beaten by Morales the year before. Hamed was schooled. In the same way Gatti would never be the same after he fought Mayweather, Hamed would never be the same after Barrera. He returned for one more fight which he won after his defeat to Barrera but he knew what the rest of the world now knew. Hamed had been found out. For all his natural attributes, he did not have the nouse in the ring or the discipline to make it at the top level. And, for one reason or another, he only got one chance to prove he could have been world class and he was beaten. Turns out, he just wasn’t good enough...

 

The fact that a Naz thread comes up nearly as often as Erection tells me he is a legend!

 

Probably right - but he was a cockhead all the same.

 

This is probably the best summation of Naseem Hamed. Kudos

 

:good
he exposed him to extend of retiring NAZ in humilation: ol:

 

I wish I could have seen Hamed fights when he was in his prime, not cuts and clips on him on youtube because he looked like a REAL showman, a real exciting fighter who gave you your moneys worth every night. And if you dont see in his fights that the boy had talent then what are you watching? He was forreal and losing to Barrera doesnt change that fact.

quickly becoming one of my favorite boxers.