If Naseem Hamed was still fight...

[Violent Demise]

I don't think people are realizing how big of a draw Mayweather is. His PPV numbers are very impressive considering every single fight of his is a PPV fight. Not to mention his style of fighting. Yes he has some help in getting those numbers (Alvarez, De La Hoya). But the fact that he can even get close to 1 million buys for fighting Robert Guerrero speaks volumes. Hamed would need to face the elite top fighters to even get close to 1 million. Also Hamed was limited by the fact that he was only 5'3. He was stuck fighting Featherweights and below. He would of got murdered fighting Junior Lightweights like Diego Corrales, Joel Casamayor and Arcelino Frietas.

Hey, I know how big Mayweather is, but I have to say that Nas had much more star power in and out of the ring. Mayweather is the better fighter by leaps and bounds, no doubt, but if Nas was fighting today and still undefeated - which would be 22 years of undefeated boxing - with that kind of resume and his star quality, there's no doubt in my mind that he would be one of the biggest sports legends in the world right now.

With Nas was huge, he had sponsorship/commercial deals with huge companies like Adidas and Sony... if he had the skill to box on and beat all the top level guys (MAB, Morales, FW Pac, hell maybe even PBF) and remain undefeated for as long as Floyd did, there's no doubt in my mind he'd be selling more PPVs than Floyd.

That's the thing with Hamed. It involves way to many "if's" And most of those "if's" are unrealistic. I don't deny Hamed's popularity. And while he too was an arrogant prick to many he's still more likable than Mayweather. And if he was to remain undefeated for 22 years, you are correct that he would be bigger than Mayweather currently is. Problem is Hamed didn't have a prayer of remaining undefeated against the elite fighters around him

[Beanflicker]

That's the thing with Hamed. It involves way to many "if's" And most of those "if's" are unrealistic. I don't deny Hamed's popularity. And while he too was an arrogant prick to many he's still more likable than Mayweather. And if he was to remain undefeated for 22 years, you are correct that he would be bigger than Mayweather currently is. Problem is Hamed didn't have a prayer of remaining undefeated against the elite fighters around him

For sure, obviously that is an impossible hypothetical because Hamed didn't have the skill to beat Barrera and IMO would have had his ass handed to him by Morales, Pac and PBF of that time.

In the end he was much more interesting than Mayweather, was more press-friendly and had a much more fan friendly style than Mayweather.

Trouble was, he wasn't half the fighter Mayweather was.

I remember after one of Floyd's fights at the time, while Larry Merchant was doing the post fight interview with him Floyd said that he wanted to set up a fight with Naseem. Larry got serious, looked him in the eye and said "Floyd, Naseem's not going to fight you". Didn't have the substance to hang with the big boys.

[goti71]

That's the thing with Hamed. It involves way to many "if's" And most of those "if's" are unrealistic. I don't deny Hamed's popularity. And while he too was an arrogant prick to many he's still more likable than Mayweather. And if he was to remain undefeated for 22 years, you are correct that he would be bigger than Mayweather currently is. Problem is Hamed didn't have a prayer of remaining undefeated against the elite fighters around him

For sure, obviously that is an impossible hypothetical because Hamed didn't have the skill to beat Barrera and IMO would have had his ass handed to him by Morales, Pac and PBF of that time.

In the end he was much more interesting than Mayweather, was more press-friendly and had a much more fan friendly style than Mayweather.

Trouble was, he wasn't half the fighter Mayweather was.

I remember after one of Floyd's fights at the time, while Larry Merchant was doing the post fight interview with him Floyd said that he wanted to set up a fight with Naseem. Larry got serious, looked him in the eye and said "Floyd, Naseem's not going to fight you". Didn't have the substance to hang with the big boys.

I remember that one too. It was the Corrales fight. Floyd offered to meet Naz at 128 or 130 and Merchant really laughed at the idea.

It would have been a horrible night for hamed.