PRINCE NASEEM VS GAMBOA

[Asterix]

i watched many of naseems fights, and i absolutely LOVED his style, him and martinez fight like they are animes its cool as hell IMO D

hell he was one of the most exciting fighters to watch.....being that his style was SOOOOOO awkward and he hit hard as hell made him so much fun to watch

but when he fought barrera that night he lost fairly, hell i remember barrera being a HUGE underdog and i enjoyed both of them so i watched that fight attentively not giving barrera much of a chance, but there was nothing in hameds repertoire that he had that couldve sealed him the victory that night.....it wasnt an issue of weight or anything of the sort.....he simply lost to the better technical boxer/puncher

There's a good documentary on that fateful night against Barrera. If you imagine a peak Hamed, I don't see Gamboa being able to handle him. Gamboa's not shown anything yet to prove that he's at that level. It's like comparing James DeGale to Carl Froch.

[swingthemitts]

Barrera also lost a point in the 12th for slamming Naz into the turnbuckle, when he knew he was ahead on the cards. I think the fight wasn't as close as the cards claim, also.

However, Gamboa (while a breathtaking talent) has accomplished nothing to warrant comparisons to Naz. I would be hard pressed to think that if there were a gun to people's head that anyone would seriously take Gamboa against a prime Prince.

[Bricks]

Prime Hamed without a doubt. Against as murderous a puncher as Hamed, you can't leave your chin out like Gamboa does.

Americans don't rate Hamed as highly as they perhaps should. I can perfectly understand this, because by the time he went across there, he was already past his peak, not training, not listening to his coach and generally disrespecting the game.

But, hey, he still cleaned out the featherweight division with the exception of Marquez. Don't let the fact he didn't ever unify the belts fool you. The sanctioning bodies played all kinds of funny games that saw him stripped after winning for refusing to take mandatories, or opponents stripped before they fought him because they weren't facing mandatories. It all meant that really, Hamed, while past his peak, was at one stage undisputed featherweight champ.

At his peak, he was tremendously elusive, and even though Gamboa has far greater speed than he faced, I think Hamed had a decent enough chin to survive. Meantime, his punching power was off the charts, and Gamboa's chin has been reachable for far slower, far less accurate, and far, far less powerful men than Hamed.

Exciting and interesting contest, but at this stage in Gamboa's career, it's only possible to pick one winner.

I wouldnt call Hamed a murderous puncher he wasnt in the Jackson/Mclellan/Tyson bracket ,I think he was just under the Benn bracket (ie a big puncher but not a one punch at any time to end the show man).

He cleaned out a very weak featherweight division, hell early 90's guys like johnson, Robinson and Hodkinson (i know they didnt meet) were very poor compared to the early 2000's breed of FW and SuperFW's Morales, Barerra and Marquez , and Corrales,Casamayor and Mayweather. Hamed talked so much in the mid 90's of how he would move up to 168 and fight Steve Collins in Ireland and win world titles at 6 weights.

Yet he wouldnt fight Mayweather or Mosley at only 4 and 9 lbs higher than him when he could have. Hell he didnt even fight smaller good men like Tapia and Ayala.

all of that renders Hamed a collosul what if and never was on account of his Barerra beating and decision to retire.

I know Naz was at his best around 1994-1995 at the latest and started to slip thereafter. But it wasnt anything physical just laziness and not listening to Ingle.

Still Gamboa isnt in his class.

[glittermonkey]

A lot of that's fair enough, but a couple of things I'd pick out are the moving up through the weights issue, and whether or not his abilities had eroded towards the end of his career.

Firstly, Naz was never, ever, going to jump up weights. It was just hyperbole on his part. He was never a big feather, so moving up to face guys who were draining heavily to make lightweight was never a serious option. Even super-feather would have been a huge stretch for him, considering that a lot of the mouthwatering match-ups that could have been made would have featured men who ended up at light-welter and welter. Feather was his weight, and he was small-ish for that division, so we can hardly punish him for not facing the likes of Mayweather, Gatti, Corrales, and Casamayor.

Again, it's hard to count not facing men like Ayala and Tapia against Hamed, considering that when Hamed was at his peak, they were two divisions south. How often do boxers who pick on much smaller men cop flak on here? It's also made even less damning for Hamed by the fact that he did often face the best fighters from the weight directly below. McCullough, Vazquez, Bungu, and of course, Barrera, were all excellent super-bantams before moving up.

Secondly, for me, there's a clear deterioration in Hamed from his peak of Johnson to his fight with Barrera. That's not excuse making for his showing against the Mexican, as even a bang in form version of Hamed would be hard pressed against a fighter as good as Barrera, but in that fight, and his outings against Soto, Sanchez, and Ingle, there were clear signs that Hamed was on the slide. He was getting hit much more often, was caught off-balance more often, and his work-rate had dropped quite significantly. Not all of that was down to laziness, either. It would have helped no end had he still been training as he was under Ingle, but there's little that can be done for reflexes, once they start to go.

[BoxBuzz]

I never thought I'd ever say this but Naseem may be getting underestimated as time goes by. He was one of the most talented fighters ever, and he allowed himself to let his talent do all the work. If he would have maintained a disciplined focus he would have an undeniable legacy. He believed his own hype and when he fought one of the most disciplined fighters ever, he came up short. He also chose not buckle down and make something (even greater) out of all that god given talent. I think he was in love with perfection and once his record no longer reflected that perfection he lost his will.

But to be beaten ONLY by MAB is not too much of a shame.


He would beat Gamboa....if he brought his A game it wouldn't even be competitive but it WOULD be entertaining.

Take a look at his phenomenal ability to maintain balance and deliver power shots from such a variety of angles. He had the lower body strength of a MW, which gave him uncanny overall body dexterity. He was dangerous at every moment. Barrera played a virtuoso performance taking advantage of every arrogant, over confident aspect Naz displayed. MAB was one of the most intelligent ring generals in history. He was smart every moment of that fight. It was top flight disciplined orthodox intelligence vs a wild man with all the talent in the world. And MAB outsmarted Naz....he was never taken out of his game. I'm not sure Morales could have done that, because he would have wanted to trade with Naz. And I think Morales would have come out in second place in a gunfight. I do think if Morales would have stayed disciplined he had what it would take to beat Naz the same way MAB did it. I just don't think he would have been smart enough to take that path.

Gamboa? Do you think he's in Morales's or MAB's league? Really?

[The End]

They are both similar but it's a bit too early to make comparisons.

[Diamond WEAPON]

They are both similar but it's a bit too early to make comparisons.

I agree with that. We still have yet to see just how deep Gamboa's talent well goes in terms of elite opponents.

[J]

surely you cant compare the two at this stage its not even close?

wait til gamboa has finished his career.

[lucaselrey]

Both would be knocked down in the fight. naseem wins, more experience

[digzee]

i watched many of naseems fights, and i absolutely LOVED his style, him and martinez fight like they are animes its cool as hell IMO D

hell he was one of the most exciting fighters to watch.....being that his style was SOOOOOO awkward and he hit hard as hell made him so much fun to watch

but when he fought barrera that night he lost fairly, hell i remember barrera being a HUGE underdog and i enjoyed both of them so i watched that fight attentively not giving barrera much of a chance, but there was nothing in hameds repertoire that he had that couldve sealed him the victory that night.....it wasnt an issue of weight or anything of the sort.....he simply lost to the better technical boxer/puncher

There's a good documentary on that fateful night against Barrera. If you imagine a peak Hamed, I don't see Gamboa being able to handle him. Gamboa's not shown anything yet to prove that he's at that level. It's like comparing James DeGale to Carl Froch.

I'd pick DeGale over Froch as I can see him out boxing him for 8/9 rounds then having a tough end but come out with a 116-112 type decision.

Naz would have Gamboa out of there by the 5th.

[caldo2025]

I'd take Prince in a late KO in this one. I see this fight transpiring similarly to the Terrance Crawford/Gamboa Classic and I do mean classic because that was such an exciting fight. I think Prince would frustrate Gamboa into making some fatal mistakes late in that fight. Gamboa's chin isn't on a world class level IMO. His skills sure are but his chin is suspect.

[ClivePatrickLyons]

The Prince would wear him down and stop him in 9 one-sided