naz....hardest hitter....??

No, and by a good distance too.

 

Possibly not, although there have been more damaging fighters. Saddler was probably not far off in terms of power, but was more punishing; he'd tear skin and break bones; Hamed was a concusser, Saddler was a devourer.

 

the guy was adamn flywieght aswell...maybe becuase he grew into his new body instead of other who blow than just try to get a title at another wieght.

 

Can we include the 130lb division in this too? With all divisions splintering like crazy, I think it's fair too. If you can...

It's still early to say, but I think Edwin Valero hits harder. Sadly, I expect him to be forced into retirement (at best), if he ever fights Manny Pacquiao.

Valero is knocking people out cold, with relatively weak looking punches. If he stops more fighters like Mosquera, he will be the hardest hitter at "featherweight".

By the way, I do think he could fight at featherweight. It's just that the division is dead compared, so that's another reason I choose to nominate him.

 

Danny Lopez comes close.

 

Danny Lopez
Alexis Arguello

 

Youve got to be kidding. From what I have seen Naz is in another planet for 1 punch KOs...

 

No I'm not kidding.
Lopez scored 39 stoppages out of 42 victories which is a higher KO percentage than Hamed had I believe,plus he did it against a higher calibre of opponent than Naz ever did.Lopez KO'd top fighters like Ruben Olivares,Art Hafey,Chuco Castillo,David Kotey,Mike Ayala,and Octavio Gomez.
Hamed looked devastating scoring one punch KO's over various European level spuds and past their prime fighters like Kevin Kelley, Billy Hardy or smaller ones like Vuyani Bunyu yet give him a sturdy fighter like Barrera,Soto,McCullough,or even Paul Ingle and the one punch blow-outs seemed to diminish somewhat.
For power AND precision Hamed probably edges Lopez but for sheer power I'm sure it's very close.

 

I could suggest Terry McGovern.

 

I've only seen footage of his fight with Gan's but he was a buzzsaw in the ring by the looks of it.

Out of curiosity do you think that fight was on the level Janitor?

I've heard the rumours but it appeared to me that McGovern simply overwhelmed Gans in that fight,as he floored him multiple times and Gans kept getting up which I don't think you'd do if you were throwing the fight.

I found the footage didn't back up the myth surrounding this fight.

 

For his size Naseem had very strong powerful legs, which I think were a source from which he drew his power and leverage. He was freakishly powerful and definitley the hardest hitting bantamweight and featherweight ever.

Most people outside England never saw him in his prime (1996), and only saw him post Kevin Kelly when he had detereated tremendously due to lack of training which was mainly down to his silly ego and him thinking he just needed to turn up to win.

People say Barrera exposed him, this was not the case. He had slipped so far by then that he was waiting to be taken. The Naseem Hamed that beat Steve Robinson and Said Lawal would have took Barrera out Just like Junior Jones did. I know people will say that aside from Barrera he never faced a great fighter, but watch him in his prime he would have been a legend if he hadn't let his ego turn him into a has been.

 

I don't believe that for one second.

I think the reason Hamed's performance dropped off wasn't that he'd slipped (at 22 or 23 years old with zero tough fights...please) but simply because he had stepped his competiton up and his opponents no longer were overawed by his bizarre style,and realized that Naz'z balance was poor and he was there to be hit (as seen in the Kevin Kelley fight).

Hamed's ego was always out of control hence I don't see it as the primary reason for his downfall,more the fact that his style didn't befuddle the top fighters anymore and once Barrera beat him he didn't have the motivation to dedicate himself to boxing anymore.

Still he was fun to watch and boxings poorer without him imo.

 

I think the Kevin Kelley fight was the real beginning of the end for Naseem.
Early Naz was slick like Herol Graham, with monster power, but as he got more and more confident he had so much ego that he neglected to box and just went in there too complacent. He wanted to thrill and entertain and show disdain for his opponent just a bit too much, and no one can do that at the highest level. A fighter needs to use his skills and develop them to be the best in the world and remain so.

Hamed got to the point where he believed he didn't even need his skills. I think the Kelley fight actually made him believe he was invincible, and he lapped up the praise for the fight being exciting. Instead of being concerned that he got hit too much and dropped, I guess he just saw it as inevitable that he'd always win, because he was a "legend" and not a mortal human.

Hamed is a lesson to all that too much hype and showmanship and ballyhoo and talk can get in the way. The guy didn't even drink or do drugs, and I doubt he played around with too many women, he lived basically within the bounds of being respectable muslim. But his sheer ego and over-confidence made him forget what got him there in the first place. By the time he fought Barrera he was relying only on his power and the assumption that his opponent would bow to his superiority. The kid's arrogance got the better of him.

 

bull**** :good