Nigel Benn on Naseem Hamed

[WWatt]

He came into my gym once in Tenerife, strutting around like he owned the place, and I had to tell him, 'Out, mate! Get out of my gym.' He was giving it large, and I just thought, 'Nah, mate, don't come in here, giving it all large. Show me some proper respect.' He might have all those Mickey Mouse guys around him, licking his ass - 'Oh Nazeem, Nazeem!' - but he's not going to get that treatment from me. What a bunch of pricks! And then you see them carrying him into the ring like he's some kind of king and they're his slaves. Have some respect for yourself!

And then, after the last Collins fight, he comes out in the papers slagging me off, saying, 'You can break my legs and rip my arms off, but I would still come out fighting.' What a load of shit - try it on with me, and I will break your legs and rip your arms off and, at the end of the day, the public caned him for what he was saying. Maybe if he'd done half of what I'd done they'd have taken their hat off to him, but they all know! I've fought everybody, but Hamed hasn't had nearly the same calibre of opponents. Everyone knows that there are fighters out there who will annihilate him, and he's just avoiding them. If you're meant to be the best in the world, Nazeem, then go and fight some of the top Americans. Prove yourself, like I did. Then you can run your mouth off. But in the boxing fraternity, we all know that he's fighting nobodies.

When I saw him at the Brit Awards, I gave him a piece of my mind: 'Let me tell you now, I'll punch you up in the air, you little shit.' Does he reckon he wants to exchange punches with me? I'll screw him up into a little ball and throw him in the waste paper bin.

[WWatt]

That was in Benn's book (1999).

[BIG H]

CC

... but (and I know you will disagree with this) Robbie Simms, Sanderline Williams Doug DeWitt were not the top Americans. Would've liked to have seen Benn fight McCallum, Toney, Nunn, Jones, Brown, Kalambay (not American) some of those guys. Barkley was a good win, but Brakley was not 'Great'
Can't say enough about the G-Man win though

Don't get on the defensive Benn is my favourite fighter, I just would have loved to see him in with some of those guys I mentioned

[steady_E]

'You can break my legs and rip my arms off, but I would still come out fighting.'

They should have had Naz for copyright... That's a sketch out of the holy grail !!

[BrooklyniteQueen]

168 pound Nigel Benn must be a really brave man to pick on 124 pound Naseem Hamed.

And imo Hamed accomplished more then half what Nigel Benn did.

[AdamGB]

wait, wait... Naseem hamed is 124 pounds?...

Naseem is like a little yappy dog... if he barks at a bigger dog... the bigger dog will still bark back and bite the nasty little fucker if he trys anything...

[The_Mac10]

Naz never stepped up until the Barrera fight.

In 95 and 96 he was mentioning fighting Morales and Barrera...What happened to that? Took him 6 years to grow some balls.

His best win was over Kelley, I reckon(ironically, Kev was the WBU champ at the time). And he got dropped what, three times?

Look, Naz was explosive back in the mid and even towards the late 90's, he woulda caused any of the top guys problems back at his best, but he must've been worried about getting exposed. Warren would have got him the big defining fights eventually, but they split, and Naz went back to the Augie Sanchez type opponents.

[BIG H]

Robinson was WBO champion, Vasquez was WBA champion, Johnson was IBF champion, Medina, Kelly and Mccullough were former world champions - I don't see anybody he could've fought and didn't except Eric Morales and that fight never happened coz he lost to MAB

[Purist]

Naz never stepped up until the Barrera fight.

In 95 and 96 he was mentioning fighting Morales and Barrera...What happened to that? Took him 6 years to grow some balls.

His best win was over Kelley, I reckon(ironically, Kev was the WBU champ at the time). And he got dropped what, three times?

Look, Naz was explosive back in the mid and even towards the late 90's, he woulda caused any of the top guys problems back at his best, but he must've been worried about getting exposed. Warren would have got him the big defining fights eventually, but they split, and Naz went back to the Augie Sanchez type opponents.

His best win was Steve Robinson. Everybody that never followed Naz's career doesn't think he stepped up until the Barerra fight. But Robinson was considered a huge step up and Naseem just made it an easy nights work.

[Swashbuckling Gordy]

Nigel Benns autobiography is a cracking read brutally honest reminded me of bravo 2 zero which actually gets better with every read. ( 207th )

Benn smashed up somepretty good fighters over in the states and paid his dues Naz got found out bigtime in the end he was exposed by the likes of Augie Sanchez , Ceasar Soto and finally Barrera.

Naz was a talented exciting fighter but his arse went to put it simply he was funny and had a smashing right and left but he did switch off in fights and never came close to living up to his undoubted potential.

Still he achieved alot in todays sport.

[X]

168 pound Nigel Benn must be a really brave man to pick on 124 pound Naseem Hamed.

Naz probably outweighs Benn now !!!!!

[CopeAli]

CC

... but (and I know you will disagree with this) Robbie Simms, Sanderline Williams Doug DeWitt were not the top Americans. Would've liked to have seen Benn fight McCallum, Toney, Nunn, Jones, Brown, Kalambay (not American) some of those guys. Barkley was a good win, but Brakley was not 'Great'
Can't say enough about the G-Man win though

Don't get on the defensive Benn is my favourite fighter, I just would have loved to see him in with some of those guys I mentioned

Well if you're a Benn fan he must've done something right, right?
True it would've been great to see Benn fight the fighters you've labelled but i take nothing away from Benn. He's one of the gutsiest fighters i've ever seen.

[BIG H]

CC

... but (and I know you will disagree with this) Robbie Simms, Sanderline Williams Doug DeWitt were not the top Americans. Would've liked to have seen Benn fight McCallum, Toney, Nunn, Jones, Brown, Kalambay (not American) some of those guys. Barkley was a good win, but Brakley was not 'Great'
Can't say enough about the G-Man win though

Don't get on the defensive Benn is my favourite fighter, I just would have loved to see him in with some of those guys I mentioned

Well if you're a Benn fan he must've done something right, right?
True it would've been great to see Benn fight the fighters you've labelled but i take nothing away from Benn. He's one of the gutsiest fighters i've ever seen.

I don't take anything away from either, but the article said that he fought all the top Americans which he didn't!
Not his fault - was politics, but still a fact

[Memphis]

I love Benn too, but remember when he and Eubank did the TV special and Toney was with Mickey Rourke via satellite. Benn tried to put Toney in his place by realing off his list of American conquests and Toney laughed at him that was pretty funny.

[BIG H]

I love Benn too, but remember when he and Eubank did the TV special and Toney was with Mickey Rourke via satellite. Benn tried to put Toney in his place by realing off his list of American conquests and Toney laughed at him that was pretty funny.

Haha - and Benn said in the thickest voice ever "Thick as 2 planks of wood mate"