Naz elected into Hall of Fame

[Boxerbeetle]

Hmmm ok, wonder who I'm thinking of then. All I remember is that he was South or Central American & had a black eye when he turned up for the press conference! If I figure it out, I'll be able to re-watch the fight on Youtube!

I think it was Jose Badillo.
http://boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?human_ ... &cat=boxer
I watched that fight round a mate's house as he has SKY. The Puerto Rican took one heck of a shellacking.

Yeah sounds about right, cheers. Will be re-watching that one for sure at some point!

[reggaereggae]

I'm not sure he was the first Arab, but I'm sure he was the first of Yemeni descent to win a world title. He unified the title, electrified the boxing world. There is no doubt the Prince should be there.

The speed was there. The power. The accuracy....

From every angle.

[stevieb_8006]

It's a hall of fame. And if you start a Naz thread you are STILL guaranteed a load of immediate responses. He should be in. There are much worse fighters that have been accepted.

[TopGun]

Naz may not have fought all the greats but he is in a league of his own for entertainment factor. Even Mayweather attributed him as inspiration in his early days. Given that the likes of Stallone are in the HOF, then he is a definite!

Naz is the reason I got into boxing so he deserves his slot. Now get Brendan Ingle in there.

[Tomasino]

I'm going to be bit controversial here and say what exactly did Bowe do to get in?
Yes a tremendously talented boxer, who threw it away and hardly beat a top 10 boxer. He had classic series with Holyfield, and that was it. Is beating Cooper, Hide, Coetzier etc worthy of a place?

Look at his record, and its what could of been, not what was.

I agree, although Bowes wins over Holyfield were huge, far greater than anything Naz did.

[Old bones Ian]

I'm going to be bit controversial here and say what exactly did Bowe do to get in?
Yes a tremendously talented boxer, who threw it away and hardly beat a top 10 boxer. He had classic series with Holyfield, and that was it. Is beating Cooper, Hide, Coetzier etc worthy of a place?

Look at his record, and its what could of been, not what was.

I agree, although Bowes wins over Homyfield were huge, far greater than anything Naz did.

But at least Naz tested himself against the best in Barrera, where as Bowe avoided Lewis

[DazDiCanio]

Deserves to be in the HoF IMO but Steve Bunce's comments about him being the best fighter of his generation were nothing short of cringe worthy bollocks.

In with a shout for best British boxer of his generation.

[thepocketrocket]

I'm going to be bit controversial here and say what exactly did Bowe do to get in?
Yes a tremendously talented boxer, who threw it away and hardly beat a top 10 boxer. He had classic series with Holyfield, and that was it. Is beating Cooper, Hide, Coetzier etc worthy of a place?

Look at his record, and its what could of been, not what was.

I agree, although Bowes wins over Homyfield were huge, far greater than anything Naz did.

But at least Naz tested himself against the best in Barrera, where as Bowe avoided Lewis

It was seen as clever matchmaking for Naz. Barrera had the sympathy after the Morales loss but the consensus was that Morales (who had been killing himself at SB) would make a much better Feather than Barrera.

[orbtastic]

No disrespect to any inductees, but this year's roster is a bit weak compared to the past few years.

[danamba7]

Didn't Emmanuel Steward say Hamed is the hardest puncher he's ever took on the pads?? High praise indeed when you consider all the amazing fighters that Steward is linked to.

[big lennox]

As good as Froch is and Calzaghe and Leiws were (all three are top draw at world level), I still think that Naz is the most talanted fighter that we have had.

-15 defenses of his world title.
-Beat a ton of world champions
-Brought featherweights pay days they could only dream off
-Scored spectaular knock out victories
-charismatic
-captured the public's imagination on both sides of the Atlantic
-and only lost when he was some years past his best.

If that is not HOF credentials then I don't know what is. Brendan Ingle is an absolute must as well.

[black panther]

As good as Froch is and Calzaghe and Leiws were (all three are top draw at world level), I still think that Naz is the most talanted fighter that we have had.

-15 defenses of his world title.
-Beat a ton of world champions
-Brought featherweights pay days they could only dream off
-Scored spectaular knock out victories
-charismatic
-captured the public's imagination on both sides of the Atlantic
-and only lost when he was some years past his best.

If that is not HOF credentials then I don't know what is. Brendan Ingle is an absolute must as well.

He had a massive impact on world boxing not just British. I remember watching an obscure show years back on Eurosport in Belgium I believe. Ali Chebah did a "Hamed-like" lean back move and someone in the crowd shouted something in French ending with " ala Naseem Hamed". Everyone in the crowd was laughing.

[reggaereggae]

As good as Froch is and Calzaghe and Leiws were (all three are top draw at world level), I still think that Naz is the most talanted fighter that we have had.

-15 defenses of his world title.
-Beat a ton of world champions
-Brought featherweights pay days they could only dream off
-Scored spectaular knock out victories
-charismatic
-captured the public's imagination on both sides of the Atlantic
-and only lost when he was some years past his best.

If that is not HOF credentials then I don't know what is. Brendan Ingle is an absolute must as well.

He had a massive impact on world boxing not just British. I remember watching an obscure show years back on Eurosport in Belgium I believe. Ali Chebah did a "Hamed-like" lean back move and someone in the crowd shouted something in French ending with " ala Naseem Hamed". Everyone in the crowd was laughing.

He was massive in the Arab world

[thepocketrocket]

I think when we look at the greatest British fighters ever then we have to look at the opposition.

Beating ageing average fighters like Johnson, Vasquez and Cesar Soto does not make you the TBE.

If those wins had been against Morales, Marquez and Barrera then there would be an argument. Maybe even two wins and one loss. Hamed kept those divisions alive in that period before the great three and Pacman came along. He lost to one and never came back.

We should be wary of using a win against Jose fecking Badillo as a benchmark for greatness.

[reggaereggae]

I think when we look at the greatest British fighters ever then we have to look at the opposition.

Beating ageing average fighters like Johnson, Vasquez and Cesar Soto does not make you the TBE.

If those wins had been against Morales, Marquez and Barrera then there would be an argument. Maybe even two wins and one loss. Hamed kept those divisions alive in that period before the great three and Pacman came along. He lost to one and never came back.

We should be wary of using a win against Jose fecking Badillo as a benchmark for greatness.

Come on, you're being severely unfair.

Hamed beat former or current world champs:
Bungu
Kelley
McCullough
Ingle
Vazquez
Johnson
Medina
Robinson
Polo Perez

And in style. Some good champs there. Compare this to Bowe

[thepocketrocket]

I think when we look at the greatest British fighters ever then we have to look at the opposition.

Beating ageing average fighters like Johnson, Vasquez and Cesar Soto does not make you the TBE.

If those wins had been against Morales, Marquez and Barrera then there would be an argument. Maybe even two wins and one loss. Hamed kept those divisions alive in that period before the great three and Pacman came along. He lost to one and never came back.

We should be wary of using a win against Jose fecking Badillo as a benchmark for greatness.

Come on, you're being severely unfair.

Hamed beat former or current world champs:
Bungu
Kelley
McCullough
Ingle
Vazquez
Johnson
Medina
Robinson
Polo Perez

And in style. Some good champs there. Compare this to Bowe

Oh Geez...I could start working my way through them but that would be disrespectful.

They may well have been champs, but they were either ageing like Vasquez and Johnson (some of their performances pre Hamed were shocking, Vasquez v Rios being a particularly bad one) or belt holders like Medina and Polo Perez (don't give me Medina is a multi world champ, he would always lose the belt straight away and then beat another crap champ)

Beating Holy twice blows all these guys out of the water

[danamba7]

Sometimes you can over-analyse a fighters worthiness for HOF. For me he deserves it. Why? Because he's Prince Naseem Hamed.

[lillywhite14]

Any half of fame discussion always comes back to this...

Barry McGuigan is in there. If that's the benchmark it's going to end up with millions of boxers in there one day!

[stevieb_8006]

I think when we look at the greatest British fighters ever then we have to look at the opposition.

Beating ageing average fighters like Johnson, Vasquez and Cesar Soto does not make you the TBE.

If those wins had been against Morales, Marquez and Barrera then there would be an argument. Maybe even two wins and one loss. Hamed kept those divisions alive in that period before the great three and Pacman came along. He lost to one and never came back.

We should be wary of using a win against Jose fecking Badillo as a benchmark for greatness.

Come on, you're being severely unfair.

Hamed beat former or current world champs:
Bungu
Kelley
McCullough
Ingle
Vazquez
Johnson
Medina
Robinson
Polo Perrez

And in style. Some good champs there. Compare this to Bowe

Oh Geez...I could start working my way through them but that would be disrespectful.

They may well have been champs, but they were either ageing like Vasquez and Johnson (some of their performances pre Hamed were shocking, Vasquez v Rios being a particularly bad one) or belt holders like Medina and Polo Perez (don't give me Medina is a multi world champ, he would always lose the belt straight away and then beat another crap champ)

Beating Holy twice blows all these guys out of the water

I agree, and a few of them were bantams earning a payday

[thepocketrocket]

Yep. They were all champs so deserved respect for what they have achieved, but there isn't one fight in there against anyone good enough to make you think 'wow, he has a real chance here of beating Hamed'.

That came the day he fought Barrera and we saw what happened there

[stujones]

That is a poor list. Bowe should not be near the HoF IMO.

When doing my post on Naz being there more for what he did in the UK than Globally. I was trying to think of fighters who probably got a better resume than Naz (but probably not as talented) who would "never" get in.... the fighter I was just about to right was Ray Boom Boom Mancini - and he's in this year.

And sorry, IMO Glyn Leach deserves to be in ahead of Nigel Collins IMO.

People say Barry/Gatti is the bench mark - I would say Bowe joins that list. Isn't Bowe a first time ballot also?

Ottke definately deserves to be in ahead of Bowe, who is really in based on one fight.

Is Azumah Nelson in???? If not, its a travesty!!! Should be WAY ahead of these three.

[stujones]

Yep. They were all champs so deserved respect for what they have achieved, but there isn't one fight in there against anyone good enough to make you think 'wow, he has a real chance here of beating Hamed'.

That came the day he fought Barrera and we saw what happened there

Yeah, always some angle - either too small, too old or too green.

Hamed vs Ingle 2 might have been a cracker.

[Rexob]

Yep. They were all champs so deserved respect for what they have achieved, but there isn't one fight in there against anyone good enough to make you think 'wow, he has a real chance here of beating Hamed'.

That came the day he fought Barrera and we saw what happened there

Barrea was an all time great! Hamed was just great! so well deserving to be in.

[Tomasino]

Azumah Nelson has been in for about 10 years. A dead cert.

Barry also has something that Bowe has but not Naz, a win over a truly great fighter. Some value this higher than wins over fading WBX champs.

[stujones]

Azumah Nelson has been in for about 10 years. A dead cert.

Barry also has something that Bowe has but not Naz, a win over a truly great fighter. Some value this higher than wins over fading WBX champs.

Thank the lord for Nelson - wasn't sure if he got in before his comeback loss over Fenech.