Who do you rank higher all-time pound-for-pound: NASEEM HAMED or FERNANDO VARGAS?

By the time Vargas was 25, he had fought Ronald Wright, Ike Quartey, Felix Trinidad, and Oscar De La hoya.

That's pretty remarkable. He also was competitive with all these guys and even scored wins vs Wright and Quartey.



Thinking about it, I'm not really sure. But both did a lot of good to the sport...Always provided top dollar entertainment in the fights and in the drama. That's what boxing is all about.

 

Indeed, and even in the fights Vargas lost he still gave a strong account of himself. Hamed is put in basically one scenario like that, and gets utterly dominated.

 

^^^^^

 

Winky was robbed

 

Vargas faced CLEARLY the better opposition

 

Hamed = dominant champ , lost once to a great at his peak.

Vargas = Drug cheat , bounced of the canvas all over the place.

Seems fairly ****ing straight forward to me !

 

I was a big fan an of both as fighters in their heyday, though neither ultimately lived up to the hopes I had for them I voted Hamed, though it is only by a narrow margin. Both looked sensational streaking to world titles and beat good though slightly limited champions.

This really depends on whether you're looking at who they fought or who they beat. Vargas obviously fought better guys and his best wins (Winky and probably Quartey, though the latter never quite achieved great status) were better than any of Hamed's. However, he did lose to most of the best guys he fought. Plus, his second tier of wins (Campas, Marquez and Castillejo) is pretty weak when compared to the number of similar guys Hamed beat (Johnson and Kelley probably being the best along with maybe Bungu then Ingle, Soto, Robinson, McCullough, Vazquez, Medina etc...)

As others have pointed out, there is also some contradiction between saying Hamed losing an 8-4ish decision was being "cruelly exposed" and yet Vargas being put on his arse five times and KTFO by a similar level of fighter was a "brave defeat". As a general rant, it does hack me off that every decision victory in boxing has to be either a "robbery" or a "schooling". Hamed-Barrera along with Calzaghe-Kessler is one of those fights which occupied the middle ground, whilst there was no argument over the winner, the fight was competitive throughout and the other fighter won 4 rounds or so. Anyhow, I digress...

Both guys suffered from bad matchmaking in their careers. Vargas fought too many tough fights too early - Campas, Marquez, Winky, Quartey, Trinidad and ODLH in the space of 4 years and before he turned 25. Along with injuries and his penchant for overeating between fights, this derailed him. Hamed never had any "elite" fighters in his division until the early 00s and when he did get the chance he was already past his own best due to neglecting his boxing in favour of becoming a pure puncher and ignoring the guys who knew best in favour of yes-men.

I will give Vargas one thing he tried to come back but circumstances derailed him. Hamed just sat on his ass playing X-box and eating all day. Once he had the millions in the bank he did not have the motivation to fight anymore. I can't really blame him, but a waste of talent nonetheless. Neither fighter successfully moved up in weight, but Hamed unified the title 2/3 times.

Anyway, bottom line Hamed's list of BEATEN opponents plus his beating the reigning champs of all four bodies and 5-year reign as "the man" in his division>>>>>> Nando's achievements by a small margin.

"TKO"

 

Indeed !