Prince Naseem Hamed: A Career Retrospective

Naz was a good fighter that was naturally gifted but he let the spotlight get to him. He could of beat any fighter at his weight and AMB but he wanted to be flashy instead of fighting. He really hurt his career and honestly we still dont know to this day if he could of one of the best boxers that lace on a pair of gloves. I think the lost to AMB really hurt Naz career and instead of taking a rematch he retired and never came back. He fought decent fighters but most say he was overrated do to the fact the he got handle by AMB which was NAZ best opponent and skill fighter to date !

 

Hamed's resume is full of B level fighters and the one only A fighter hes fought schooled him badly. I dont consider him a great fighter but a great entertainer.

He wants to return and Id like to see him come back even if its against a complete bum at a high weight division just for the novelty of it.

 

Hamed was a prodigy. Most people on here base their opinions on his late fights. Here's an extract from one of his (earliest and) best ones

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I started getting into boxing when i was a kid due to the benn/eubank/collins fights, and Naseem Hamed. The original poster wrote a good article on Naz. You sometimes hear folk say if this fighter had knockout power, or that fighter was a little bit faster.... With Naz you'd say if he had the hunger and work ethic throughout his career he'd have been one of the best ever. Its no secret that towards the end of his career he wasnt training properly, partying too much etc. I think he honestly was so arrogant as to assume his massive natural talent would be enough to see him win any fight. The easy victories over lower level fighters also probably meant he thought he could beat the top guys without modifying his open style.

 

there's a great Doc "Little Prince Big Fight" about the build up to the Barrera fight it's very interesting to see how unfocused Naz look's and how lightly he take's Barrera.
Also the scene's after the fight really stand out with Lennox Lewis and other's going on about "It happen's man but the Great one's come back stronger", And for me that's the key, Naz never came back from that defeat Once his one dimensional style got exposed he was finished.
One of the Greatest talent's and Greatest showman ever couldn't do it on his biggest stage.

 

I'd say Naz was a B level fighter and MAB at that time was an A+ fighter. An A or an A - fighter doesn't look that bad I mean if it wasn't for points being taken away I doubt Naz would have won more than two rounds of that fight. He was dominated b/c he fought someone who A is a much better fighter than he ever was and B stuck to his game plan and didn't play Naz's stupid games.

 

says alot about a boxers character when he quits after hes knocked off the mountain......
leaves a sour taste in my mouth because hes never made an attempt to avenge his only loss........just 1 miserable boring fight after his only defeat..

 

i think he really did believe he was unbeatable, he used to say it enough. then to get basically handed a lesson and beaten black and blue with no way to stop it he must have come crashing down to earth.
i remember that come back fight, he was awful but the crowd gave him **** all the way though, booing him when i came out with the " had a cold " excuse in the interview. he must have thought it wasnt worth it, already made millions.

 

Excellent article.

Naz introduced me to boxing...I remember watching him as a kid round my parents friends house and he was fighting a mexican guy. They were all cheering for the mexican, I was the only one supporting him.

The guy had insane natural talent. He did crazy things in the ring but boxing is a harsh sport and people are quick to forget the good times and even when he was the king many of the british public were dying for him to lose, it's no wonder he fell out of love with the sport.

He is probably one of the best things to happen to boxing and he could've been an ATG but I guess the key word there is could...

 

he was a MUCH better fighter than u r poster

I went to the sanchez fight...I met his brother in the casino...the guy is a spittin image...it was funny

 

why did he quit boxing after that fight?

 

Top article, he essentially cleaned out the division and must be given credit, but he will ultimately be remembered for losing to the best fighter he ever fought and the fact that he didnt comeback to have successes after the loss goes against him aswel.

He was a cracking talent but a right lil ***** aswel. It doesnt bother me that he hasnt had the long lasting adulation like some of the other british fighters of the 90s.

Well written article though.