Naseem Hamed's place in history

http://www.eastsideboxing.com/news.php?p=6498&more=1

01.04.06 - By Michael Klimes: In the Oxford Dictionary the word Houdini is defined as ‘a person skilled at escaping,’ after the notorious magician.

A former British boxer that used to be a magician in the ring was Naseem Hamed or The Prince (as he liked to call himself). Hamed, with Chris Eubank, Michael Watson, Nigel Benn and Lennox Lewis was once one of the finest British fighters of the 1990s. He may even have been the best.

Hamed was a precocious little man. He started off his professional career boxing as a bantamweight but quickly moved up a division to the featherweights where he rapidly stood out as something outstanding and unique. Indeed, Hamed possessed many qualities that only come to naturals: He was a brilliant switch hitter that could change his stance with ease, he could launch bone breaking punches from either hand with lethal precision, had wonderful reflexes and an exciting, crowd pleasing style. The Prince on form was a delight to watch.

However, Hamed’s gifts were counterbalanced by endemic flaws. He was mind numbing in arrogance. By twelve years of age, he had already lectured Harry Mullan, the former Editor of Boxing News declaring,’ You ought to write a story about me. I am going to be world champion one day.’ The way he became champion was astounding. At just twenty one years, Hamed gave a painfully humiliating master class to a bemused Steve Robinson in 1995 at Cardiff Arms Park in Wales. Robinson was then the W.B.O Featherweight Champion.

Hamed knocked him out in eight rounds. The sheer and untapped raw potential on display was sensational. Hamed did everything wrong from the fundamental rule book perspective. He held his hands down by his waist instead of up by his face, punched off balance and stuck his head out for Robinson as target practice. Robinson was in a hopeless mismatch with Hamed effortlessly leaning back to avoid punches and landing his own shots at will.

Although everyone agreed on Hamed’s abilities, there was something mildly disconcerting about the way The Prince ripped apart Robinson. Hamed not only showboated but seemed to enjoy, perhaps just a little too much his overwhelming slaughter of his adversary. There was a degree of merciless cruelty in Hamed’s performance.

Everyone, though, forgot Hamed’s cruelty as he was now the toast and butter of British boxing. He was a promoters dream: He had youth, a mouth that ran marathons and limitless talent. He reinforced his reputation as a fearsome puncher when, in his first defence of his new belt, he knocked out the poor Nigerian contender Said Lawal in thirty five seconds. He broke his nose in three places and was accumulating an aura of invincibility.

Unfortunately, the more Hamed impressed in the ring the more damage he did to himself with his self-destructive arrogance. Compounding this vice were his increasingly elaborate ring theatrics. Fireworks, smoke, a flying carpet and a throne all accompanied Hamed to the squared circle in different bouts.

With his ever inflating ego and hunger to snort the media limelight like cocaine, vulnerability started to creak in the canvas of the ground where Hamed needed it the least: The ring. In 1997, Hamed added the I.B.F Featherweight title to his waist by defeating the tough Tom Johnson in London. This catapulted him to a make a debut in America at the spiritual home of boxing, Madison Square Garden. This is the point when eyebrows started to be raised about Hamed’s unorthodox style.

American fans and judges, perhaps boxing fans in general love aggressive, come forward fighters that devastate their opponents with one punch. Hamed, in his debut against the accomplished Kevin Kelley participated in a pulse vibrating four round war. He was sent to the canvas three times but demonstrated true grit (not just gift) as a fighter by absorbing the punishment and coming through the other side. Although the knock downs and power helped make Hamed a box office name on both sides of the Atlantic they underscored two worrying occurrences in this fight.

True, Hamed showed courage but he also looked surprisingly sluggish which made his very low defence a disadvantage. For it not to become an Achilles heel, Hamed had to retain those cat like reflexes. Equally, it was his power and power alone, which got him out of trouble; not dazzling footwork, reflexes and laser guided punching. If Hamed was going to continue winning against increasingly dangerous opposition, he had to ensure he did not become a one dimensional knock out artist.

Hamed’s last nail in the coffin of the gradual slope into the sludge was splitting with Frank Warren (his promoter) and Brendan Ingle (his trainer) who had been with him since he was just seven. This happened in 1998. Hamed’s supreme test came in 2001 when he went to fight the great Mexican Marco Antonion Barrera in Las Vegas. If Hamed could beat Barrera, he would silence the fiercest of critics. Hamed entered the ring that April night with an undefeated record of 34 wins. There were some considerable scalps to his resumé but Barrera was a class above them all. This was a different ball game.

Barrera smashed Hamed from pillar to post over twelve gruelling rounds. He was respectful of Hamed’s power, never allowing himself to be suckered into striking distance. Hamed was at the very least humbled and at the maximum humiliated. Everything, which had once made him such a brilliant star faded into a black hole. To his credit, Hamed took his beating like a champion and took the defeat with a grace unusual to him. There was an encouraging sign in his comments saying he would comeback. Thus far, he hasn’t except in a controversial points win over the little known Manuel Calvo in 2002; Hamed looked like a relic.

A Possible Return?

Hamed, on numerous occasions has spoken of a comeback but these have proved to be empty remarks. There were hints of a planned return in early 2006 but this has not happened. In a recent interview he said, ‘I’ve been spending plenty of time with my two sons, my wife and parents just chilling. I’ve been boxing since the age of seven and it got to a point where I just thought I could take a break and that’s what I did.’

A number of factors prohibit a successful return of The Prince and it is an illusion to believe that if he does return he will be a boxer of the same mould. Hamed, like Muhammad Ali in a Mark II model will not have the same speed and reflexes that were the hallmarks of his prime. Subsequently, this will effect his style as he won’t be able to get out of trouble by slipping punches like he did in the old days. What we will see if Hamed tries to fight as his older self will be more knock downs and bigger punishment. Ali was savagely beaten in some rounds of his bouts between 1970-1975 (when he was still a great fighter even though in decline) because he simply could not maintain the original work rate he used to be known for. Ali had to use his incredible intelligence and mental strength to stay barely competitive in parts of fights. Hamed will have to exercise a similar array of qualities if he wants to beat the toughest opponents. Boxing purists were not entirely wrong in their criticisms of Ali’s and Hamed’s defences, they were fundamentally flawed but only when their defensive reflexes failed them from ageing.

Another foreseeable trial is that if Hamed has slowed, then his style will have to a more orthodox defence. This means changing his stance, which means playing around with his balance and how he throws his punches. One of Hamed’s great strengths was that he could punch from the most awkward of angles because of this awkward stance and balance. If a trainer changes this The Prince is not only fighting in a completely different way but also is doing something that is not natural to him and goes against his most intuitive fighting instincts.

Hamed could still retain the wonderful duplicity of switch-hitting and deliver bombs in each hand but he will need to learn how to fight more economically. Showcasing stunning two round knockouts and engaging in four round wars is not the way to set the pace of a bout and wear down your adversary. Hamed needs to be patient, work a jab, take rest periods through clinching if he is tired, work the body and then deliver the knockout. He does not want to believe and operate on the one punch knock out philosophy.

The other problems are connected to weight and character. It is important that he fights at the weight he is most comfortable with and does not cut training like he did towards the latter half of his world title reign. The celebrity spotlight life he liked to live must not be rekindled and he will need to be wary of younger fighters coming up who want to staple his big name as a former world champion to their records. Sparring partners are invaluable from a training perspective as well as his lack of them in his big fight against Barrera showed. Hamed needs to be humble and not let himself get carried away with being flashy.

Other Opinions

Barry McGuigan, the former Irish brawler warned Hamed of his return stating, ‘My advice to Naseem is to stay retired and enjoy your life. It’s very difficult to go back and capture that hunger again. He can get into shape but it is a different thing from being fighting fit.’

Emanuel Steward, trainer of Tommy Hearns and Lennox Lewis suggests otherwise, ‘He can become a world champion again,’ Hamed’s comeback ‘has to be done properly and delicately. A lot of guys comeback and they rush into it. You have to be careful about the opponents. If he trains hard, I don’t think it will take him more than three months.’ Steward has announced his enthusiasm to work with Hamed as, ‘I only have fond memories of him.’

It seems, in my eyes, it is too late for The Prince. Frank Warren once said of him,’ I think at one stage he was the most exciting fighter that I'd ever been involved with. At one stage, in the early part of his career, he could have gone on to become one of the great fighters. But that disappeared when he didn't fight as regularly as he should have done, when he was cutting corners on his training. It just didn't work out for him from that point on.’

Hamed seems to have lacked what Ali said the true greats need, ‘Champions aren't made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them-a desire, a dream, a vision. They have to have last-minute stamina, they have to be a little faster, they have to have the skill and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill.’

The will is something The Prince was always short of.

10: Salvador Sanchez
9: Joey Archibald
8: Azumah Nelson
7: Johnny Kilbane
6: George Dixon
5: Henry Armstrong
4; Eusebio Pedroza
3: Abe Attell
2: Willie Pep
1: Sandy Saddler

Honorary mentions: Young Griffo, Terry McGovern, Jim Driscoll, Bat Battalino, Hogan ‘Kid’ Bassey, Davey Moore, Sugar Ramos, Vicente Saldivar, Eder Jofre, Antonio Esparragoza, Naseem Hamed and Marco Antonio Barrera

Mentions: Ben Jordan, Young CorbettII, Johnny Dundee, Kid Kaplan, Tony Canzoneri, Kid Chocolate, Baby Arizmendi, Chalky Wright, Howard Winstone, Alexis Arguello, Danny Lopez, Juan LaPorte, Jeff Fenech, Marcos Villasana, Tom Johnson, Kevin Kelley, Eloy Rojas, Manuel Medina, Wilfred Vazquez, Erik Morales, Juan Manuel Marquez and Manny Pacquiao.

There is his place. ;)

Hamed started his career at flyweight, not bantumweight.

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Originally Posted by Britkid

10: Salvador Sanchez
9: Joey Archibald
8: Azumah Nelson
7: Johnny Kilbane
6: George Dixon
5: Henry Armstrong
4; Eusebio Pedroza
3: Abe Attell
2: Willie Pep
1: Sandy Saddler

Honorary mentions: Young Griffo, Terry McGovern, Jim Driscoll, Bat Battalino, Hogan ‘Kid’ Bassey, Davey Moore, Sugar Ramos, Vicente Saldivar, Eder Jofre, Antonio Esparragoza, Naseem Hamed and Marco Antonio Barrera

Mentions: Ben Jordan, Young CorbettII, Johnny Dundee, Kid Kaplan, Tony Canzoneri, Kid Chocolate, Baby Arizmendi, Chalky Wright, Howard Winstone, Alexis Arguello, Danny Lopez, Juan LaPorte, Jeff Fenech, Marcos Villasana, Tom Johnson, Kevin Kelley, Eloy Rojas, Manuel Medina, Wilfred Vazquez, Erik Morales, Juan Manuel Marquez and Manny Pacquiao.

There is his place. ;)

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interesting post Brit, I gotta give you a CC

tell why would you post Naz ahead of Morales and Pac two fighters that have had as much success as Naz maybe against tougher opposition?

good read, the game :coolclick:

i for one do not think hamed will ever make a return...its too late now

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Originally Posted by Mad_Dog

tell why would you post Naz ahead of Morales and Pac two fighters that have had as much success as Naz maybe against tougher opposition?

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Morales purely as a Featherweight went 6-1; he struggled with Espadas and Chi and like Naseem lost to Barrera; IMO as a Featherweight, Morales is a level below Naseem. But of course I would agree his entire career is probably at least on par with Naseems.

Pacquiao looked damn impressive against Barrera, and had the first round with Marquez, but apart from another easily blow out, that has been his entire Featherweight career thus far. Naseem on the other hand was a massive factor in the division for five plus years, where he met pretty much everyone that mattered, and apart from one obvious exception, beat them all.

I see your point. You are looking as to what they did at feather.

good post brotha

Unfortunately in this sport, you're only as good as the big names you've beaten. And for that, Hamed has one, Kevin Kelley. He'll always be remember ed for that exciting war, and for the Barrera loss. But at 36-1, he should go down with pretty high regard. A clown he was, but he was interestoing, and was by far the biggest puncher at that weight.

Naz won't be coming back now. He's got a jail sentence to serve out in 2006.................

Naz more of an entertainer than a prizefighter and like every entertainer his time has passed.

Entertainer with heavy hands nothing more. When thrown in the ring with a great fighter it destroyed his career.

What fight was it when Nas tried to body slam his opponent?

Naz was flashy and very talented but in the end I remember him best as a quitter and a showboat

I think he tried to slam Soto but i cant remember

Naz always had fantastic potential. Agaisnt MAB was teh first time i saw him actually have to chase a fight. To be frank he looked totally inept going forward. It seems that even with all his talent he was a one dimensional fighter.

My fav fioght was when he beat Steve Robinson.

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Originally Posted by Lyle

Naz was flashy and very talented but in the end I remember him best as a quitter and a showboat

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Naz was flashy and talented. I would not have labelled him a quitter in the ring, as the beating he took was possibly worse than Jeff Lacy's and Naseem, to his credit, showed some heart.

He was too showy for my liking and humiliated his opponents, especially when they were really overmatched. That's the mark of a bully (albeit a 5'2" bully).

I also think he was badly advised by his brother (but at least he seems to have kept some of his money, unlike countless other fighters over the years) and would have not done much for religious understanding in the UK

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Originally Posted by X

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Originally Posted by Lyle

Naz was flashy and very talented but in the end I remember him best as a quitter and a showboat

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Naz was flashy and talented. I would not have labelled him a quitter in the ring, as the beating he took was possibly worse than Jeff Lacy's and Naseem, to his credit, showed some heart.

He was too showy for my liking and humiliated his opponents, especially when they were really overmatched. That's the mark of a bully (albeit a 5'2" bully).

I also think he was badly advised by his brother (but at least he seems to have kept some of his money, unlike countless other fighters over the years) and would have not done much for religious understanding in the UK

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The Naz beating was no where near as bad as the Lacy beating, take a look at shots landed in both fights, Barrera didnt land enough leather to even come close to the Lacy beating.

Naz is probably in the top 25 Feathers of all time.

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Originally Posted by CutMeMicK

Naz is probably in the top 25 Feathers of all time.

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Brave statement ;D Don't you commit yourself too much fella ;)

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Originally Posted by CutMeMicK

Naz is probably in the top 25 Feathers of all time.

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If he was he would be number 25 and I doubt that, if you picked a period of 10 years maybe... not of all time in a long shot.

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Originally Posted by BIG H

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Originally Posted by CutMeMicK

Naz is probably in the top 25 Feathers of all time.

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Brave statement ;D Don't you commit yourself too much fella ;)

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;D
Thats why I put probably ^-^

Whats he got to put him there Mick... I wanna know if your trying to wind people up or you genuinly think so... ;)

Technically he was poor, his defence was poor, his balance was poor and he had no understanding of ring craft and always stick to 1 game plan: swing widley at the other guy. naz never had the heart for a fight, he liked to bully people who he outclassed but that's not evidence of skills. The only good thing I can think of is that he hit quite hard for a feather weight... and that was just because he was aloud to swing away at bums whilst they where wide open... I hit as hard as most Pro boxers my weight but if you stuck me in the ring with one I wouldn't come across as that hard a puncher because technically at the moment I am not good enough to unload my shots on top guys... Put me in the ring with some one I out class by miles and hype me up to british fight fans/the mirror and all of a sudden I would be a punching power sensation... ::**

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Originally Posted by AdamGB

Whats he got to put him there Mick... I wanna know if your trying to wind people up or you genuinly think so... ;)

Technically he was poor, his defence was poor, his balance was poor and he had no understanding of ring craft and always stick to 1 game plan: swing widley at the other guy. naz never had the heart for a fight, he liked to bully people who he outclassed but that's not evidence of skills. The only good thing I can think of is that he hit quite hard for a feather weight... and that was just because he was aloud to swing away at bums whilst they where wide open... I hit as hard as most Pro boxers my weight but if you stuck me in the ring with one I wouldn't come across as that hard a puncher because technically at the moment I am not good enough to unload my shots on top guys... Put me in the ring with some one I out class by miles and hype me up to british fight fans/the mirror and all of a sudden I would be a punching power sensation... ::**

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If you know my history
You do not want to mess me
It is not a mystery
You fail if you test me


One day I go to dancing in a festival club
Where females do a dance move like a testicle rub
Maybe I find a woman to call my private phone
Or maybe I find a woman to clean my private zone
I see a silly man who was a real party dude
He make fun of my clothes like he want to start a feud
I say you are a wimpy man you do not want to mess me
You dancing like a woman, your movement don’t impress me
So then he throw a punch at me, but I yell out wait!
I must get my boxing gloves before you meet your fate
I reach into my knapsack, to pull out a glove
He scream “you can’t stop a fight!’ and give my head a shove
So I shout, that’s it, no more Mr. Nice Man!
You push me in the head once, you do not push me twice man
I throw my sack to ground, and get into a stance
With one punch he hit the floor he did not have a chance

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Originally Posted by AdamGB

Whats he got to put him there Mick... I wanna know if your trying to wind people up or you genuinly think so... ;)

Technically he was poor, his defence was poor, his balance was poor and he had no understanding of ring craft and always stick to 1 game plan: swing widley at the other guy. naz never had the heart for a fight, he liked to bully people who he outclassed but that's not evidence of skills. The only good thing I can think of is that he hit quite hard for a feather weight... and that was just because he was aloud to swing away at bums whilst they where wide open... I hit as hard as most Pro boxers my weight but if you stuck me in the ring with one I wouldn't come across as that hard a puncher because technically at the moment I am not good enough to unload my shots on top guys... Put me in the ring with some one I out class by miles and hype me up to british fight fans/the mirror and all of a sudden I would be a punching power sensation... ::**

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I kind of agree.. But I think it kind of shows how talented Nas was that he didn't ever have a game plan and he looked so technically flawed, yet really was effective against anything but an absolute great focused fighter.. I mean the guy's natural reflexes and finesse were as good as anyones, he is up there with Whitaker in that department.. And looking back at his record, he did have the longevity, and alot of championship fights, although maybe not always against good championship level fighters he still has a few good wins. Also to say he is top 25 isn't really outrageous, it's hard to find an abundance of featherweights who would absolutely have to be above him, Britkids list was pretty good. I definetly do not put him higher than 20 or something though, and practically the only reason he is there is his record on paper, imo. There are alot of people who could have campaigned longer at 126 and were no doubt better than him, Morales being one of them.. But PERHAPS, he just edges him out. Really I think he just fought at a fairly weak era for feather and wouldn't cut it today even, and certainly couldn't have been in the mix a few years ago with MAB Morales Pac and Marquez..

he had a decent run but in the end didn't fully live up to the hype

i got the naz barrera fight on tape and if you watch it back, nearly everyone picked naz to win by a mile, i'm talkin about darkie, watt, Mcgory, piper, barry mcguigan, all the ringside experts. except 1 but not sure who backed naz, i think it might have been duke mccenzie.

JBIRDY - YOU KNOWN THIS GUY WOULD BEAT NAZ RIGHT NOW, AND THEN HE COULD SING AND DANCE TOO LIKE BOYBAND

HAVE PICTURE 2 TIMES FOR 2 TIMES ENJOY

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Originally Posted by AdamGB

Whats he got to put him there Mick... I wanna know if your trying to wind people up

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;)

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Originally Posted by CutMeMicK

Naz is probably in the top 25 Feathers of all time.

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That's it this thread is going in the wrong direction! MODS take action!!!











You'll never live that down Mick, lol

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Originally Posted by X

JBIRDY - YOU KNOWN THIS GUY WOULD BEAT NAZ RIGHT NOW, AND THEN HE COULD SING AND DANCE TOO LIKE BOYBAND

HAVE PICTURE 2 TIMES FOR 2 TIMES ENJOY

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WTF is the go with the pic's of the queer? How much longer must we look at him? :-X

Naz was one of the hardest P4P hitters at that time, he did fight good competition for sure.
Tell me one better featherweight than Naz during the nineties......
He was special, and X i don't what fight you were watching but Naz didn't take much of a beating because Barrera countered him all night. I gave Naz 3 rounds.
Anyone who says he ain't got heart in the ring is ignorant because if you watched the kelly fight and others, whenever he got knocked down to the floor he always got up again. Naz had a good chin, and a big heart in the ring.
Why is his competition suddenly bums?!?! he unified the titles and basically became undiputed at that weight bar the WBA.

Naz was a good fighter, that could have been great, but I think he bought into his own hype. As far as his place in history, top 50 feather.

top 20 imo
There weren't that many good featherweights around

http://www.saddoboxing.com/boxing_fo...html#msg266776

I didn't put Naz in - ashould've put Pedroza and Arguello in!!

Naz would'nt be far outside the list thoguh imo.