I've always wondered this, especially having seen some of Naz's fights at Bantamweight and super Bantamweight, and he looked pretty small in them too. Can a case be made that the only reason he fought all the way up their at Featherweight was cos he couldnt be bothered with the training, and this is also why he always looked gassed/out on his feet in his fights that went longer than 5-6 rounds?
it was more to do with money. Even with his style you cannot be a superstar below Featherweight. There would be no big name opponents and no mega paydays. Vazquez and Marquez wont have got paid more that $2million each for there 4 fights, Juan Manuel Lopez will probably get that for his next 2.
Undoubtedly Naz lacked the sort of dedication that you would have got from any of the elites, but I think Feather was a pretty good weight for him regardless; just look at his record. That said, I often find myself wondering what could have been had he stayed those few divisions lower. He was a monster at Bantam.
Dont forget Barrera and Morales were super bantam's at the time so the money and fights were there. For me it was more the fact that Frank Warren had the perfect Featherweight belt holder in Steve Robinson on his books and Naz loves a Pie. Naz should have won world titles at bantan through to feather imo.
I'd agree with Hooch above, he could have and should have won title at bantam to feather. But there was the perfect opportunity to win a title at feather and there is more money in the division, just look how much money he made...
in interesting fight in 97 would have been Hamed moving upto super feather to fight Gatti for the IBF title at 130
Lets say that hypothetically moving up in weight doesn't harm Naz; he'd smash Gatti. He's a cut above.
Yep I agree. Gatti hit hard (at 130 anyway) and was capabale enough to land on Naz and tough enough to force some sickening exchanges. Naz just had freaky power; and even for someone with as much heart as Gatti, I wouldn't be happy putting someone as hittable as Arturo in their with Hamed. I mean, a few years earlier I'd have picked Naz to stop Wayne McCullough.
if his power had decreased going up then id see the point but it seemed to improve if anything, and he could take a shot there as well despite the fact his balanace often made it look like he couldnt dont really see a problem with him there at all tbh
As has been mentioned, he went to featherweight because Frank Warren had Steve Robinson and the WBO featherweight title there, and then he stayed to defend that title. Then attracted attention from other featherweight titlists, and won the IBF title and the WBC. He could have dropped down but he was winning his fights. The move up wasn't because he was too lazy to shed weight, it was just because the initial title happened to be there. He could have stayed at 122, or even 118.
Thats how Nas will always be remembered....Ifs, buts, maybes...I wish he had hung about, love him or hate him he gave us all a few dam good laughs and was thoroughly entertaining. The world of boxing misses the chubby bastid. Was he a legend? He will be to many die hard fans, but from a boxing point of view eventhough he was devastating and had a very good professional record he wont go down as a legend in the world of boxing coz he didnt apply himself and his ego and pride let him down in the end. Would have loved to see Nas move up through the weight divisions naturally like Pac man has done and be involved in some great wars. In my eyes, one of the biggest let downs in british boxing with the amount of talent he had.
I remember someone saying (not sure if this is true or not) that most Ingle fighters fight around their walk-around weight. I remember Johnny Nelson saying once that he walks around at 14st 8lbs roughly, so too light to go up to Heavyweight full time (although I think he's had Heavyweight fights in the past). When Naz first came onto the scene, he stated he wanted to be a legend and win titles at 4 different weights. I think titles from Bantamweight to Super Featherweight would've been feasable for him IMO. But anything more than that would be a strech in terms of giving up height and reach (no pun intended). Isn't he something like 5'4" or 5'5"?
