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I don't care that eventually he got his ass handed to him. Prince Naseem Hamed was one of the most original and talented fighters of the past decade. He was a special blend of athleticism, showmanship, talent, power, and speed. Watching this guy was an event each and every time and I think the boxing world is missing originality like this dude. I just wanted to pay a little tribute to the Prince.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oM6Ey3vb4m0
Yes, he was all of that and perhaps more but, he fought only one A list fighter and the prince turned back into a toad quicker than Harry Potter waves his wand!Quote:
Originally Posted by albsur2006
Its a shame he let it all go to his head.If he stayed with Brendan Ingle and listented to him like he used to i feel she was unbeatable but he got to big for his boots and 1 MAB took him to school that night.
oh no! Flashback:cwm3:
He was never unbeatable or anywhere near it he had some bad struggles even in his prime. He was very talented no doubt about it and he had some very good performances against B class fighters like Steve Robinson ETC.Quote:
Originally Posted by littlebif
But his balance was terrible at times, and when he pulled back which is a boxing error he did used to get caught quite often. And his punches were wild/swinging punches which often left him open for counters.
But i'll give him credit when i was young i would always watch him, whether you loved him or hate him. He put asses in seats and gave you your money's worth. So you can't really argue with that.
But was he anymore talented than other British fighters who used the low hand style. Like Kirkland Laing ? Herol Graham ? i mean the way people go on about him at times is like he was a sensation and people had never seen, anything like that before in a British fighter.
But as i just said the British fighters above were just as talented, and used the low hand style just like Naseem Hamed. Naseem Hamed was very talented but he also gets overrated at times, most of his best performances were against B class fighters.
He also retired when he lost and never comeback which a true champion does, sure he had one comeback after the MAB fight. But basically after he lost to MAB his career was over.
Which showed me the mentality of Naseem Hamed, if he had comeback and atleast tried to of got a rematch with MAB, or took on fighters like Erik Morales or ETC.
And he had lost i would of still respected him for trying, i don't like Amir Khan but atleast he's got the bottle to step back in the ring after an embarrassing loss.
And try and get to the top because thats what real fighters do, and that part of Naseem Hamed's game was missing which stopped him being a real/great fighter.
i think hamed is a classic loudmouth who allowed himself to really believe he was as good as he was bragging about. Thats why he ran into a brick wall called an elite fighter in his best division.
If Naz wasn't a sensation then name who is? What sets him apart from those other Brit fighters, apart from obviously winning WORLD TITLES, was stunning KO power and the wow factor, which put bums on seats, got him millions of viewers and earned him MILLIONS of pounds. That is what you call a SENSATION!!! No?
Even if you believe he only beat B class fighters...
As WBO champion he stopped Tom Johnson for the IBF title, stopped Wilfredo Vazquez the WBA champion (stripped for facing Naz) and beat Cesar Soto for the WBC title.
He cleaned up the featherweight divison.
How rare is it for fighters to make unification matches let alone beat ALL the other belt holders? That must count for something, right? If done today the fighter would naturally be revered and applauded by all true boxing fans and be guaranteed a lofty P4P ranking ;)
I meant talent wise not what he achieved.Quote:
Originally Posted by Fenster
People will probaly disagree with this, i think Naz was past his best before he fought MAB because he never took training serious wasnt listening to his trainers so there for i think we were never going to see the real Naz ever again as soon as he started to do this there for he contributed to his own downfall.Quote:
Originally Posted by Fenster
Hamed was a good fighter , who looked great against B class fighters and older guys ( Johnson - Vasquez ) , guys like Steve Robinson were never really world champions , Hamed was good but no great , he was also perhaps the most anoying DICKHEAD ever to be involved in boxing.
I personally really hopes he makes a comeback and gets totally TWATED.
He was like Tyson, great potential but did not achieve greatness that he should have. He was a cocky twat but vicious power in either hand.
Heh, at least he has a cool highlight vid on YouTube!
Hamed was great for the game! He was entertaining in & out off the ring. Had bone crunching power & a mouth to go along! Like Ice said he made people watch for that love hate factor like Ali had & like Mundine & Darchinyan do!
Just imagine how great things would have been if Hamed had continued on. Possible fights with Barrera 2, Morales, Marquez, Tapia, Ayala, maybe Austin!
Man that would have been awesome!!!
Hamed was good entertainment ...... he was unorthodox and actually quite hard to hit, like all Ingle's fighters are - but what he had that none of the others did was blinding hitting power. Hamed was Herol Graham with a big punch (and Herol with a punch would have been a great fighter)
Unfortunately, Naseem was an unpleasant bit of work - looks like he had small man syndrome and turned into a bit of a bully. Like all uncontrolled bullies he ended up believing his own hype and that he was the only one that mattered in the world (witness his disgraceful and unforgivable behaviour after his car crash).
Once he left Ingle, his boxing went downhill very quickly, he trained and sparred poorly, he cut corners with his fitness, his technique became sloppy. He got away with it for a while because he never lost that massive hitting power, but he got found out against Barrara.
So ...... undoubtedly a great fighter at his peak, who would have been competitive with just around anyone (I'm not saying he would have beat them all, though), but his true peak was actually very short, maybe only 18 months or so.
To his credit - he did show a good chin and heart against Barerra.
i will never forget that kevin kelley fight, that was amazing, defo my fav naz fight