I cought a few of his fights many years ago, but never really followed him religiously. Still, for the little I saw of him, he was an entertaining fighter to watch and had real character.. His resume reflects that of a very good Bantam and featherweight.. Anyone have any opinions to ad? This content is protected
He was extremely athletic, hat power, speed, a good chin and a confusing style. He´d do better h2h than he ranks I think. Even so he actually is quite accomplished. His resume lacks a bit though. He wasted his talent quite a bit, starting to believe in his own hype and thought he´d knock anyone out at some point anyway, so why training hard, why trying to improve why using the skills he had. Well, he did well for himself and he brought the limelight to the lower divisions. For that he deserves praise.
I enjoyed watching him. Good reflexes, handspeed and footspeed, genuine power, nice upper body and head movement and an unorthodox style. Even though he got knocked down now and then, it seemed like more of a balance issue than anything, due to the way he would lean away from shots. As Kevin Kelley put it: '[FONT=times new roman, times, serif]I knocked him down twice, and he laughed both times. I don't think I hit him squarely one time. When you hit him as he moves back, it's like punching a giant sponge.' That being said, I don't think he would've beaten Barrera even if he had been properly motivated, and I don't see him beating Morales or Marquez either. [/FONT]
A man who was a great featherweight but is underrated because he lost to mab and retired when the featherweight division went through a golden era. He unified all the title claims within the division and for that he deserves utmost credit. H2h he'll be trouble for a lot by virtue of his power, especially the late 90's prince. It's a bit weird seeing a dominant champ unify 5 titles (wbo, wba, wbc, ibf, lineal) and not be regarded as an elite. His era wasn't the strongest but only a great can rule an era.
An underachiever. He had it all,ability wise. Speed,power,great reflexes,and a sound chin. After becoming champion though,he started to rely soley on big punches,got outboxed by Barrerra and that was that.
He was a gimmick. It was amazing to see a fighter with such poor technique and defense accomplish what he was able to accomplish. I think his punching power is what kept him in fights. He beat some pretty solid fighters, but most were past their respective best or so lacking in offensive power they couldnt really expose his glaring weaknesses other than knocking him down. He would have never gotten much further than he did because he was starting to fight the better guys who could take his power and expose him for what he was.
:goodThis is an excellent post:good.I comment about him frequently on the General in response to his fans posting what I refer to as the monthly(ball-licking) hamed thread.On the General,his fans have made at least 8 excuses,that I've last counted,concerning the reason that he lost to MAB,instead of accepting the truth that MAB was just simply on a different level.Despite his power and quickness,he was technically deficient and went absolutely as far as he could have due to his gigantic limitations.He was lucky to have not fought the elites(the Mexicans and Pac) that fought when he was in his mid-late 20s,because,quite frankly,he would have been dramatically exposed,as he was against MAB.That,coupled with his beyond classless behavior,makes him very easy to dislike.Needless to say,I can't stand the ****.Having said that,he NEVER beat a great featherweight and behaved like a *****,and got just what he deserved when MAB embarrassed him.:yepWhat's hilarious is there are those amongst his fans that insist he's an ATG despite having never beaten a great fighter,EVER.I wasted 2 minutes of my life debating with one of his deluded supporters(on the General of course)that insisted he would have beaten Henry Armstrong because Hammering Hank was too slow,according to said Hamed nutsucker,LAUGH MY MOTHER****ING ASS THE **** OFF.My dream fight EVER is prime hamed against my favorite feathers ever in Chava Sanchez and Alexis Arguello,2 fighters that would have thoroughly embarrassed scumbag hamed far worse that MAB did.
lufcrazy,I respect your opinions an awful lot,but he'll never be considered an elite outside of Britain because he never beat a great fighter.Give him credit for his longevity,but his list of victims is simply nothing special.He avoided his #1 WBO contender for at least 1 1/2 years(JMM,who would have been easily the best fighter he would have fought other than MAB)choosing only to challenge him while expecting JMM to be ready in a ridiculously short amount of time.He NEVER beat a great fighter and only looked great when he enticed limited opponents into the kind of rock-em sock-em undisiplined shootouts in which a technically useless fighter like him thrived.I just watched the MAB fight again yesterday after not having watched it for years and was laughing my ass off at the end of the 11th when hamed was ready to cry after getting hammered.The useless commentary by beyond biased Glen McCrory was ****ing hilarious,too.Cheers,man:good
Best fighter he faced gave him a boxing lesson, he was good but i feel overrated than again its from person to person some overrate him some underrate him.
Again i agree with most of this post, the only part i disagree (if thats the right word) with is that he was lucky not to have fought the elites. I say this because, i believe, that it wasnt a case of him being lucky, it was a case of him being very selective
real power, great chin, but he was so technically deficient it was embarrassing. His one punch power got him out of so many holes. He was a confidence fighter, once MAB had dismantled him and his aura of invincibility had gone, he was a shot fighter.
He had 1 loss fighting at the top level for 6years and gets more stick for 1 loss than any fighter in history pretty much. He's an elite level fighter and naturally very talented. He beat most of the best fighters in his division while beating a total of 10 champions, only missing Norwood and a pre-prime Marquez, who he offered a fight to. Marquez, Barrera and Morales all turned Hamed down before MAB did sign. His overall comp pre-MAB was better than any of them pretty much, maybe with the exception of MAB