The Truth about Naseem Hamed

"Error 404 - Page Not Found" - good link,thanks.

 

**** off OnePunchKo.

 

Good work. You tend to find that people who dislike his attitude will give him no credit, but you did an objective analysis. I have his career set and he was great for the sport. We don't have personalities in the sport like we used to.

 

lol motherfcker just got banned

 

:rofl already

 

Barrera took Hamed's soul away. That is what I think. But your article is very informative, and a good read.

 

Good job on the article. I like that you were able to take a step back and try to give a neutral account of one of your heroes. Also, the writing is pretty good.

If you were going for neutral, you are close, but not quite there.

Some things you might remove are in bold:

One allegation often raised by Hamed’s detractors is the notion that he ducked Juan Manuel Marquez. Hindsight is a useful tool for haters. We all know that Marquez evolved into a fighter regarded amongst the upper-echelons of the pound-for-pound elite, but during Hamed’s time as the featherweight champion, Marquez was unheralded. Despite his number one contender status with the WBO, Marquez was ranked no higher than sixth by The Ring during Hamed’s reign and the Mexican didn’t capture a world title until two years after Hamed had retired. When Hamed was destroying Vuyani Bungu in 1999 – a man who’d made 14 defences of his title – Marquez was losing on points to Freddie Norwood (a good professional but a level below Hamed). Despite defeating a total of nine past, present or future world champions, bigger challenges blocked Hamed’s ascent to legendary status.

Using a slag term like "hater" sounds amateurish. Maybe consider changing it to something like "detractors"?

Marquez. Nearly everything you mention here sounds like excuses. Consider giving JMM his props and just admitting that, for better or worse, the fight didn't happen but that it would have been a great fight if it had.

"Hamed’s peak came in the two years after capturing his first title. By the time he fought Marco Antonio Barrera in 2001, Hamed was past his best. He’d split with his long-time trainer, earned more than he could spend, and achieved many childhood dreams. Hamed was unmotivated, unfocused and lazy in the build-up to his first fight with a truly elite opponent."

He was in his 20's and obviously had plenty of time left to fight on if he could have gathered himself after the loss. He wasn't past his best his physical best, which is what that paragraph implies.


In many ways, Hamed was doomed to failure. He could never live up to the level of hype that his fame and success afforded him.

You mention "In many ways" but you only give two. You might reword that part.

Also, in my personal opinion, I think he did live up to the hype for the most part. He always put on a big show, fans loved him and although he's been gone for 10 years, we still talk about him often. He was good for the sport.

The only thing that would have made him better, and legendary, would have been if he had rallied from the Barrera loss and fought on. Even if he never beat Barrera, quitting the sport was not the way for a champion fighter to go out. I'm sure he regrets it every second of every day.

 

Just a couple of things:

You admit to Vazquez being past his best, so why not the same for Kelley?

Also, McCullough had yet to even fight Morales when he was faced with Hamed:

What it comes down to for me is that the 3 best opponents he beat (Kelley, Vazquez, and Bungu) were all past their best to one degree or another. He's got a few decent lesser names on his resume, but nothing that would come close to qualifying him as a great fighter, in my opinion. Then there's just the pointing out of his flaws as a boxer. Things that pretty much any great Feather (and many less than greats) would be ripe to pick out.

Great entertainer, massive puncher, dangerous for anyone who has a propensity for carelessness, but he was not a great boxer. Not at all.

 

Didn't Read Ha HA

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Naw Just kidding,

thanks for sharing, a good read, I'll be honest I was never really a Naz fan, but enjoyed your write up.

 

I am a huge Naz fan. I remember someone saying he retired because of 9/11. I find that hard to believe.

Others say he had hand problems towards the end of his career.

 

Post 9/11 United States was not very tolerant or Muslim friendly.......the last thing alot of Americans wanted to see was a boxer praising Allah before and after every fight. HBO is a business, before anything else and will do what their consumers want, there are ALOT of famous boxers that are Muslim, very few are loud about it. :deal

9/11 set us back in alot of ways....

 

Wow , that was very nice of you to take your time and really help.