Why didnt Prince rematch Barrera?

The jig was up. He wasn't going to beat any elite fighters at or near his weight class he was smart to hang it up when he did he preserved some of his mystique

 

Because he got turned into Princess Naz in that fight and realised he didn’t like being someone’s 8itch !

 

MAB exposed fundamental flaws in Hamed's game, and Hamed lack the discipline and self-belief to believe he could counter it. He was clearly embarrassed by his performance and made to look foolish, even though the cards were not that wide (MAB definitely respected his power). I think Hamed saw what everyone else did: Your opponent did not fear you or ever have to make any adjustment in the fight. MAB had a gameplan that he executed from rounds 1-12 without having to deviate.

What got exposed most of all was that Hamed was a poor counterpuncher. The belief at the time was that he was a world class counterpuncher, but in fact he was unable to counter MAB's counters. He also had no real boxing ability to get MAB off-balance. Hamed's balance, by contrast, was horrible and left him open to clean shots.

Tbh, I think he had a better shot at the young version of Pacquiao than any of the seasoned Mexicans. That version of Pacquiao was a gunslinger, reckless and also got off balance.

 

I think Naz knew that if he fought MAB, he would've been embarrassed even more than he was the first time. I truly feel like he never got over his loss and he retired in part because of that.

 

There's truth to this because in the documentary that follows Naz on the road to the Barerra fight, it was obvious that his ego was a runaway train by that point.

 

ego was shattered

 

1 - He knew he would of lost the rematch unless he made some major changes.

2 - To make those major changes probably meant going back to Ingle and rededicating himself to boxing and he had too much pride for the first part and not enough hunger for the second part. All the wealth and fame changed him for the worst, nothing worse than a fighter believing his own hype.

3 - Even if he had gone back to Ingle and rededicated himself his hands were done, too many hand injuries, his greatest weapon wasn't there anymore and without that he wasn't anywhere near as potent a fighter and he wouldn't of ever stood a chance against Barrera unless he was anything but 100% and even then he probably would of lost.

 

I think he found his hunger, if his present rotund body shape is anything to go by.

 

Prince was an overhyped Glass Jawed Fraud that hid behind the WBO rankings and kept fighting handpicked fights. Once he stepped up he got embarrassed then retired and ballooned up to 400 pounds.

 

You're talking like Barrera is Superman.

How could you say Hamed "never had the skills and lacked fundamentals"? The guy held multiple world championships, had 86% KO rate and was unbeaten at that time?

 

There are a lot of world champs, but that doesn’t make them elite. Just something us boxing fans see sometimes. Sometimes we can see a boxer like Wilder with a high KO percentage and many defenses and call that as soon as they face an elite threat like Fury he will probably lose. However sometimes we get it wrong like Fury against Klitschko. I thought Fury was awkward, uncoordinated and not skilled enough to beat Klitschko and I was wrong. I also though Pacquiao was too unskilled and uncoordinated to take on Barrera and he put a demolition on him.

Before the Barrera fight Hamed and Mayweather were negotiating to fight at a catch weight and I expected Mayweather to outskill and make Hamed look amateur. I wasn’t 100% sure Barrera was going to beat Hamed because going into the fight he was talking about pressuring and beating up Hamed to the body. Totally the wrong strategy and I wasn’t sure if he would have the chin to last all 12 rounds. However he decided to fight from the outside and counter and that was the strategy I expected to demolish Hamed. Sometimes we get it right and sometimes we get it wrong. That was the style I expected to beat Hamed and I was correct.

 

Pacquiao is a stylistic nightmare for MAB. Barrera was more technically skilled than Marquez and Morales were, but he did not have the physical strength to handle and withstand Pacquiao's onslaught, so the steamroll happened.

 

Stylistic nightmare for a lot of guys. Fast, strong, awkward style most people have never seen.

 

Think a lot of people talking sense in this thread. Combination of reasons the biggest being Naz was a great fighter....barrera was better tho.

Would have been interesting if naz had left ingles who done a great job with him....a lot earlier. He was too big in the gym....was petulant from the very early days. Big fish in a small pond and ended up stagnating as opposed to growing which only got worse after he left tbf.

But would have been more interesting if he picked the right gym and right trainer from younger or even remained with the ingles and knuckled down.

In comparison barrera was always hungry. At some point that hunger will take you places. I think barrara won it without too much trouble but even how barrera set up in that fight....he respected naz enough to know he was a danger that pretty much shows naz was very good. Barrera was just better than being very good.

Also think naz was an on top fighter....looked sensational when beating people he could outclass....but didnt like it when he was unable to do so. Hence why we ended up with him throwing opponents about through frustration later in his career. I think his fight v medina was telling....medina was long in the tooth but a good fighter. He countered naz a lot that night. Naz stopped him late i think but he was hit more than he,d ever been hit and cited a bad cold as a reason. Possibly true. But looking as he progressed he did end up getting hit a lot more from better operators as the levels went up. Which finished with barrera hitting him all night. He knew the gig was up. The gig wasnt just up he knew the better fighters could hit him which his ego couldnt really take.

I think it could be argued that he had a chance if the trappings of boxing never got the better of him. His mentality wasnt up to it tho. Which is pretty much the biggest single thing that makes any boxer elite.

He was something else tho tbf. I didnt like him back then...but one of the most talented fighters from these shores. He was hungry....just not as hungry as he needed to be to be truely elite. One thing that actually made barrera elite.

 

I agree. He beats 99.99% of Featherweights in history. His speed, power and workrate at 126 broke the scale.