Why? Because I said he was annoying? Or a fighter with talent who could beat good fighters? Or because I said he would never beat a great fighter? Curious, cause everything I said appears to be true. Outside of arguably the "annoying" part, which is a matter of opinion. Hmmm...
He was a show man. Same MO as Macho Camacho. Made a lot of people hate him but made them pay to go see him
Macho was actually a great fighter. Prince talked all that religious talk in the ring and ended up plowing into some dude while drunk. Camacho was a crack head, but he always seemed to be halfway crazy.
Hamed never made the greatness he could've...if he had kept Ingle as his trainer and showed more enthusiasm for training hard....being a family man he found that hard. Nonetheless hit says great things about your ability as a boxer, when many rate MAB win over him as one his best... his would be a great name to have on a resume. I would go out and sayI beleive Prince Naseem (and I didn't like soime of the things he did) would be better than MAB and Morales if he stayed with Ingle and trained harder and with more dedication to his fights.....all If and But..... and also a great waste of talent.
Entertainment. He came in on a ****en Flying Carpet "Nuff said" Those intro's were worth the price of addmission alone. Every other ringwalk has been **** since, THX Prince.
Will people not learn - he wasn't drunk! He was merely showing off on the wrong side of the road in his 200mph McLaren Mercedes.
Naz was the 1st boxer I went to see in the flesh, and I have saw almost every fight he ever had, going back to the early 1990s before he won his WBC International title. He was a ****ing idiot, an absolute clown, but not really in a way that offended, he was just funny, like a court jester with 1-punch KO power in either hand! The ring entrance v Kevin Kelley, his flying carpet, those cringeworthy memories will never leave anyone that saw them. His peak IMO was between Feb 97 when he beat Tom Johnson and Mar 2000 when he beat Vuyani Bungu (including the unforgettable fight v Kelley). In this period I genuinely believe Hamed had the natural ability to be one of the greatest featherweights in history, but his own arrogance and stupidity meant he thought this ability alone meant he didn't have to work on his defence, develop his skills, and train hard. And v Barrera, it was obvious that natural ability was not enough v the very best. I believe Hamed genuinely believed in his own head that he would never lose. The defeat by Barrera just shattered his mentally, he never recovered his belief or desire. Could have been a great if he applied himself. But he didnt. So he isnt.
He was not drunk at all - overtaking someone at twice the speed limit on a bend is bloody dangerous! Naz was a very hard trainer - the hard part was actually getting him to the gym. If you read Johnny Nelson's book, it refers to the fact that Naz liked to go out for a drive, often not returning for a couple of days when they ought to have been in the gym He was made too big for his boots by Frank Warren - and was earning more than all his mates put together. After hiring outside security he began to alienate them as the flunkies didn't know who was who and often didn't allow mutual access..... Basically - Naz had 10 Ellerbe's
He was entitled to a rematch as well :deal People often think it was a Calzaghe Lacy style beating, which it wasn't - for me it was a Calzaghe (from Kesser fight) vs Wright (from Hopkins fight) i.e. a guy at the top of his game against one lacking in focus and full of excuses for a **** showing.
I remember watching the Barrerra fight as a nipper. Even in the pre-fight stuff showing him in his training camp in Vegas (I think, or Florida maybe) he seemed far too cocksure talking about he could knock out any man because of the sweet science and the chin and all that rubbish. Seemed like he'd totally underestimated Barrerra, who to be fair was the better man on the night. But to say he had no talent is dumb, you just had to watch his fights to see that. And what a character. Total nobhead but funny as ****. Praise allah