
Originally Posted by
GRBOXINGFAN
OK, Hamed's card was weak, not sure if anyone will dispute that, but... He did fight a few good fighters albeit only one great fighter IMO in MAB. Mccullough was a decent feather and Soto was a good one. Kelley was average to good as was Wilfredo Vasquez.
He had opportunities to fight MAB before he did, also JM Marquez, Morrales, Tapia, Enrique Sanchez, Jesus Chavez, Mayweather (at 130), Ayala, Derrick Gainer, Carlos Hernandez, How about moving 4 pounds up and fighting Corrales, Genaro Hernandez, Angel Manfredy, Carlso Rios, Gregario Vargas, Carlos Gerena, hell Jose Luis Castillo made 130 in the late 90s. I could go on... I just named 15 great or very good fighters who would've loved to fight Hamed and could have drawn reasonably to make it a worthwhile big fight for Hamed. Many of these guys openly lobbied to fight Hamed. I'm sure some of these fights couldn't be made for one reason or another, but just pick any 5 of these and I believe Hamed would have a card worthy of hall of fame consideration (of course he'd also have 4 or 5 more losses), some of those guys would've cut from 130 to 126 for the money and the chance to kick the Princes rear. Instead he fought the easiest possible guys with very little exception. The back flips and ring entrances will probably get him into the hall anyway, but more for being a side show than a great fighter.
Great fighters have at least a handful of great fighters on their card, Hamed has 1 and he got beat down by him. He should have at least 8 or 10 other fighters that are remembered as very good and he doesn't IMO. Maybe some of those other guys were modern day Willie Peps and I just don't know it, but this guy might be the most protected, over hyped and overrated fighter in history!
Hamed was entertaining, a guy people loved to hate. He had very good power, but almost no boxing acumen. I consider him a good to very good featherweight, but far from a great one. He made a ton of money by refusing to fight tough guys and showboating. I guess you can't blame him, he wouldn't of made much money getting his butt kicked by fighting the best fight in and fight out.
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