Your views on Prince Naseem Hamed?
-
Controversial
- Heavyweight
- Posts: 9152
- Joined: 13 Jul 2002, 18:29
Re: Your views on Prince Naseem Hamed?
You have to take the Barrera loss in context to what Hamed achieved overall. Otherwise you could say Tyson lost to every great fighter he fought and shouldn't be in the HOF because Buster Douglas knocked him out.
Last edited by Controversial on 12 Jan 2015, 17:51, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Your views on Prince Naseem Hamed?
Hugely talented, hugely flawed and in equal measure.
There was a period in and around 1997-99 when he was something special....very fast, explosive punching, immense confidence and the type of genuinely unorthdox style that rattled seasoned opponents.
Tom Johnson, Kevin Kelley, Billy Hardy and the decent Carbera all stopped in 1997. 5 defences made, 5 stoppage victories. The clinical wipe-out of Hardy (who was a tough little sod) was nothing short of spectacular and Johnson and Kelley saw Hamed outrageously seemingly take some 'risks-just-for-kicks' and yet still prevail.
Beating Paul Ingle in early '99 - who was more decent than many people care to remember - probably marked the end of that short-lived but spectacular peak.
But the flaws quickly came to the fore soon after that with Hamed idiotically casting aside or ignoring the training and promoting teams who had served him so well and then making the monumental mistake of overlooking someone of Barrera's calibre and getting caught up in his own hype.
Poor decisions made outside the ring resulted in a very public and embarassing take-down from Barrera and by the time Naz came back and found himself having to work a bit against a European-level opponent like Calvo, someone he would have once taken liberties with, the writing was on the wall.
A little more listening, humility and dedication could have seen Naz move-on from Barrera.....he was young enough and the ability remained intact.
There was a period in and around 1997-99 when he was something special....very fast, explosive punching, immense confidence and the type of genuinely unorthdox style that rattled seasoned opponents.
Tom Johnson, Kevin Kelley, Billy Hardy and the decent Carbera all stopped in 1997. 5 defences made, 5 stoppage victories. The clinical wipe-out of Hardy (who was a tough little sod) was nothing short of spectacular and Johnson and Kelley saw Hamed outrageously seemingly take some 'risks-just-for-kicks' and yet still prevail.
Beating Paul Ingle in early '99 - who was more decent than many people care to remember - probably marked the end of that short-lived but spectacular peak.
But the flaws quickly came to the fore soon after that with Hamed idiotically casting aside or ignoring the training and promoting teams who had served him so well and then making the monumental mistake of overlooking someone of Barrera's calibre and getting caught up in his own hype.
Poor decisions made outside the ring resulted in a very public and embarassing take-down from Barrera and by the time Naz came back and found himself having to work a bit against a European-level opponent like Calvo, someone he would have once taken liberties with, the writing was on the wall.
A little more listening, humility and dedication could have seen Naz move-on from Barrera.....he was young enough and the ability remained intact.
-
Controversial
- Heavyweight
- Posts: 9152
- Joined: 13 Jul 2002, 18:29
Re: Your views on Prince Naseem Hamed?
His hands were shot, that's why he struggled in his last fight and never fought again.Bodyshot3 wrote:
A little more listening, humility and dedication could have seen Naz move-on from Barrera.....he was young enough and the ability remained intact.
Last edited by Controversial on 13 Jan 2015, 09:35, edited 1 time in total.
-
Ambling Alp II
- Super Middleweight
- Posts: 15097
- Joined: 04 Nov 2012, 18:31
Re: Your views on Prince Naseem Hamed?
At what sport? I hear Barrera was terrible at ping pong.Rexob wrote:Seamus wrote:His best opponent was Barrera, and he clearly lost.
I think a 21 year old Hamed would have destroyed Barrera for various reasons.
Re: Your views on Prince Naseem Hamed?
For all Hamed's punching power and his solid chin, the Barrera fight ended up clearly showing his limitations. MAB moved to his right and jabbed, and all the Prince could try and do was to land his big left. Sure Barrera had to have the skills and toughness to carry out his fight plan successfully, but that plan got alot easier in the 2nd half of the fight when it became apparent that Hamed typically through one big shot and couldn't put combinations togather.