I think Hamed let himself down. Unfortunately too many people are judging him on his last couple of fights. I watch Hamed throughout his career, and saw him heading towards his end. Hamed really was gifted, and could have done so much more than he did. But he believed his own hype.
There are some similarities with Tyson when he lost. Buster Douglas never beat Tyson, Tyson beat himself! We all know that wasn't the real Tyson in the ring.
Likewise with Hamed, that wasn't the real Hamed in the ring. I'm not saming that he would or wouldn't have beated Barrera, but it certainly would have been a much closer fight. Its no coincidence that in those last fights he was spliting from Brendon Ingle who had trained him all along. He had a tough of the Zab's, i.e. thought he knew better than his trainers.
Did anyone watch the doco made following hi through his training camp prior to the Barrera fight? Its was a joke, there was no way that he was ready. Manny Stewart wanders in towards the end of the training run in to "supervise the sparring", and even that was a joke. Youe could tell that Stewart knew what the result was gonna be.
If you want to see Hamed at his best then watch him against Steve Robinson!!! A world champion that had peoples respect, and people said he was too big and strong for Hamed. That fight made Joe vs Lacy look close
Unfortunately he will always be a "what could have been"