If Naz Was Fighting Today

[Neil Gee]

if Naz were fighting today he would be a cruiserweight.

Most overated Brit boxer ever imo.

cheered for Barerra a true legend.

I was happy Barrera taught him some manners too, that said imagine how big he would have been with Hearn behind him.

I'm assuming the thread means a prime Naz fighting today rather than the version that lost to Barrera. There must be an argument that Naz was faded when he lost to Barrera and would have done better (and probably won) if the match had happened a few years earlier.

[Nightmare Roy]

if Naz were fighting today he would be a cruiserweight.

Most overated Brit boxer ever imo.

cheered for Barerra a true legend.

I was happy Barrera taught him some manners too, that said imagine how big he would have been with Hearn behind him.

I'm assuming the thread means a prime Naz fighting today rather than the version that lost to Barrera. There must be an argument that Naz was faded when he lost to Barrera and would have done better (and probably won) if the match had happened a few years earlier.

MAB at his best would have always won IMO

[Wa1nuts]

I was happy Barrera taught him some manners too, that said imagine how big he would have been with Hearn behind him.

I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not

I nearly bit

[leejonesjnr]

Does anyone think that the fight would have gone differently if Hamed had been better mentally prepared or perhaps just more mentally robust?
Remember the rigmarole regarding the gloves and the long delay in coming out? Had he already been beaten before he hit the ring?

[Neil Gee]

I was happy Barrera taught him some manners too, that said imagine how big he would have been with Hearn behind him.

I'm assuming the thread means a prime Naz fighting today rather than the version that lost to Barrera. There must be an argument that Naz was faded when he lost to Barrera and would have done better (and probably won) if the match had happened a few years earlier.

MAB at his best would have always won IMO

Tend to agree, but I wonder if that's because a faded Naz looked so completely outclassed on the night, is that what makes it so hard to imagine any other outcome? But that was a Naz on the way down, he had no spark that night, he looked finished, but he still won some rounds. How much better would he have done a few years earlier. You gotta admit there's a chance he would have nicked it.

[JC]

if Naz were fighting today he would be a cruiserweight.

Most overated Brit boxer ever imo.

cheered for Barerra a true legend.

I was happy Barrera taught him some manners too, that said imagine how big he would have been with Hearn behind him.

Naz's American debut was MASSIVE, not sure Hearn would have been able to make it any bigger than it was.

And domestically when he was on ITV his fights were getting 10 million plus viewers, he was a proper household name. All the IFL videos and Gloves Are Off episodes in the world aren't going to generate that sort of notoriety.

[Nightmare Roy]

I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not

I nearly bit

Most did Probably the biggest start we've ever had.

[thepocketrocket]

From what I remember he avoided JMM, and when he lost to Freddie Norwood, Boxing News questioned why. Obviously JMM went on to become a legend, but that wasn't expected at the time.

I was coming to the end to make pretty much that exact point. He avoided JMM like the plaque and it was not because he was not known as he fought a shitload of unknowns in title fights. It was not just because he was dangerous as he clashed with dangerous guys, it was because they could see what was obvious, that JMM was a serious level guy and would kick Naz's ass.

I wonder how many here actually think, with all the benefit of hindsight, that Naz would have won

This is it. Yes, as we have seen we have the risk/reward argument being spouted, and that is fine. But then I also have to hear that Naz is the greatest UK fighter of all time when in fact he chose to fight rubbish whilst cultivating an image. He then gets humiliated by the one elite fighter he faced. I love the line someone used where he was the best 'hypothetical fighter ever'.

Compare that to Froch who fought anyone put in front of him. That is why Carl will always have a better resume than Hamed and what the Hamed ATG title is fanboy nonsense.

[rd350lc]

Anybody see him ringside last night ?
Needed 2 seats

[Switch hitter]

The Hamed that boxed MAB was weight drained and passed his best. He had looked faded in his previous fights. Totally believed he could knock everyone out and that seemed to be a lot of his undoing. Gone was the movement, gone was the thing that he needed the most......... Brendan Ingle.

[mickey1975]

As said, no Matchroom fighter has come close to Naz’s fame and never will.
Ps Hamed was briefly with Matchroom! They did a terrible job with him.

[maverick23]

As said, no Matchroom fighter has come close to Naz’s fame and never will.
Ps Hamed was briefly with Matchroom! They did a terrible job with him.

Why as you so anti-Matchroom Mickey? You seem to want them to fail.

So no Matchroom fighter will ever be as famous as Naz?! I would argue that AJ is now. He may not be as famous in the US but worldwide he would be. With the US he’s one win against Wilder away from being a US PPV fighter - something Naz never was over there.

AJ’s aligned himself to some massive worldwide brands. I’ve been in Canada, Australia and a few counties in Europe this year and is in each of them I’ve seen posters in shops, banners next to roads with him promoting brands in some of them and ads on tv pre promoting his fight against Parker.

The fight against Parker was shown in 215 countries. Naz at the time wouldn’t have got anywhere this.

[Wa1nuts]

Boxing has changed. It's no longer about good match ups and entertaining fights. It's about trash talking and hype especially in this country. Matchroom have a done good job of brainwashing people.

[maverick23]

Boxing has changed. It's no longer about good match ups and entertaining fights. It's about trash talking and hype especially in this country. Matchroom have a done good job of brainwashing people.

When was it all about good match ups and entertaining fights?

[lillywhite14]

Boxing has changed. It's no longer about good match ups and entertaining fights. It's about trash talking and hype especially in this country. Matchroom have a done good job of brainwashing people.

Let’s not look back with rose tinted glasses. In the good old days plenty of shite was served up, with a sprinkling of glitter on top, and sold as being top class boxing.
Allegedly was the master of the WBU and he tried his best to waste Calzaghe’s talent for a while!

Today’s fake grudge matches and matchrooms way of promoting them is a bit like Love Island. It’s made for fvcking morons to get excited watching it.

[dirk2686]

Boxing has changed. It's no longer about good match ups and entertaining fights. It's about trash talking and hype especially in this country. Matchroom have a done good job of brainwashing people.

Yeah - Joshua Klitschko, Froch Groves, Brook Spence, Bellew Makubu. These are joke fights that make me long for the glory days when you got honest, proper, entertaining fights like Naz against Billy Hardy.

And who could forget those wonderful nights when we all made sure we were recording the likes of Calzaghe v Thornberry, or Starie, or Mkrtchyan, or Salem, or Pudwill, or McIntyre, or Sobot, or Manfredo, or Ashira, or Jiminez. They really were world title fights you wanted to watch time and time and time again. I personally remember exactly where I was when FW announced the Veit rematch. I suspect a lot of us do.

It's not like FW would ever try and con his audience by suggesting past their best fighters were relevant. Nobody could ever deny that it was a prime Barrera who came over to face Khan, appropriately on PPV. And speaking of Khan, I am utterly pig sick of being asked to pay pay per view fees for such unmitigated rubbish as Cleverly v Bellew and Whyte v Parker. I remember stumping up my money for Amir in his pick 'em thriller against Dimitri Salita, and I don't care who says it was over too quickly - the fight against Prescott was worth fifteen quid and if I could I would have paid more. How could you not with white-hot undercard action featuring Paul Smith against Danny Thornton, Matthew Hall against Taz Jones, and big Audley against Arias? Puts Mitchell Linares, Selby Gradovic and Joshua Johnson firmly in the shade.

[mickey1975]

As said, no Matchroom fighter has come close to Naz’s fame and never will.
Ps Hamed was briefly with Matchroom! They did a terrible job with him.

Why as you so anti-Matchroom Mickey? You seem to want them to fail.

So no Matchroom fighter will ever be as famous as Naz?! I would argue that AJ is now. He may not be as famous in the US but worldwide he would be. With the US he’s one win against Wilder away from being a US PPV fighter - something Naz never was over there.

AJ’s aligned himself to some massive worldwide brands. I’ve been in Canada, Australia and a few counties in Europe this year and is in each of them I’ve seen posters in shops, banners next to roads with him promoting brands in some of them and ads on tv pre promoting his fight against Parker.

The fight against Parker was shown in 215 countries. Naz at the time wouldn’t have got anywhere this.

Naz had the entire Middle East watching. Plus Arabs all over the world. That’s a pretty big area.

[paddy chavez]

As said, no Matchroom fighter has come close to Naz’s fame and never will.
Ps Hamed was briefly with Matchroom! They did a terrible job with him.

Why as you so anti-Matchroom Mickey? You seem to want them to fail.

So no Matchroom fighter will ever be as famous as Naz?! I would argue that AJ is now. He may not be as famous in the US but worldwide he would be. With the US he’s one win against Wilder away from being a US PPV fighter - something Naz never was over there.

AJ’s aligned himself to some massive worldwide brands. I’ve been in Canada, Australia and a few counties in Europe this year and is in each of them I’ve seen posters in shops, banners next to roads with him promoting brands in some of them and ads on tv pre promoting his fight against Parker.

The fight against Parker was shown in 215 countries. Naz at the time wouldn’t have got anywhere this.

Naz had the entire Middle East watching. Plus Arabs all over the world. That’s a pretty big area.

If AJ beats wilder he'll be 20x bigger than naz ever was he just needs that big USA fight .

[lillywhite14]

Boxing has changed. It's no longer about good match ups and entertaining fights. It's about trash talking and hype especially in this country. Matchroom have a done good job of brainwashing people.

Yeah - Joshua Klitschko, Froch Groves, Brook Spence, Bellew Makubu. These are joke fights that make me long for the glory days when you got honest, proper, entertaining fights like Naz against Billy Hardy.

And who could forget those wonderful nights when we all made sure we were recording the likes of Calzaghe v Thornberry, or Starie, or Mkrtchyan, or Salem, or Pudwill, or McIntyre, or Sobot, or Manfredo, or Ashira, or Jiminez. They really were world title fights you wanted to watch time and time and time again. I personally remember exactly where I was when FW announced the Veit rematch. I suspect a lot of us do.

It's not like FW would ever try and con his audience by suggesting past their best fighters were relevant. Nobody could ever deny that it was a prime Barrera who came over to face Khan, appropriately on PPV. And speaking of Khan, I am utterly pig sick of being asked to pay pay per view fees for such unmitigated rubbish as Cleverly v Bellew and Whyte v Parker. I remember stumping up my money for Amir in his pick 'em thriller against Dimitri Salita, and I don't care who says it was over too quickly - the fight against Prescott was worth fifteen quid and if I could I would have paid more. How could you not with white-hot undercard action featuring Paul Smith against Danny Thornton, Matthew Hall against Taz Jones, and big Audley against Arias? Puts Mitchell Linares, Selby Gradovic and Joshua Johnson firmly in the shade.

Spot on...almost.

Delete the Bellew-Makubu from the first list. That belongs in the second and third paragraphs
Plastic title contested between the 5th/6th and 10th best cruiser at the time.

[maverick23]

As said, no Matchroom fighter has come close to Naz’s fame and never will.
Ps Hamed was briefly with Matchroom! They did a terrible job with him.

Why as you so anti-Matchroom Mickey? You seem to want them to fail.

So no Matchroom fighter will ever be as famous as Naz?! I would argue that AJ is now. He may not be as famous in the US but worldwide he would be. With the US he’s one win against Wilder away from being a US PPV fighter - something Naz never was over there.

AJ’s aligned himself to some massive worldwide brands. I’ve been in Canada, Australia and a few counties in Europe this year and is in each of them I’ve seen posters in shops, banners next to roads with him promoting brands in some of them and ads on tv pre promoting his fight against Parker.

The fight against Parker was shown in 215 countries. Naz at the time wouldn’t have got anywhere this.

Naz had the entire Middle East watching. Plus Arabs all over the world. That’s a pretty big area.

Entire Middle East watching?! Any evidence for that? Were his fights even available in places like Iraq, Bahrain, Egypt, Israel? I doubt it.

Boxing has never been massive in the Middle East. It’s partly why there haven’t been big fights there in some of the richer countries - there just isn’t the interest.

I’m happy to be proven wrong as I was a big Naz fan.

[SenorPipino]

If Naz was fighting today, he'd be kicking the arses of guys like Santa Cruz, Frampton, Mares, Valdez, Quigg and even Russell.

The Prince made a ton of mistakes out there but he usually overcame it with an unorthodox blend of speed, movement and crushing power.

Somewhat similar in those traits to Wilder, but even more slippery and unpredictable.

Refreshingly obnoxious (so is Broner, but he's a more ornery sort), I miss the charismatic Hamed's presence in the sport.

Russell would be an interesting challenge for Hamed, but the Prince's baffling skills would probably carry him to a win.

[bripez]

For me, Naz’s legacy Is massively affected by the fact that he never came back after a defeat.

All the greats have been beaten at some point (Barrera lost 7 but is still a great) but the difference is that they all came back and either avenged these defeats and/or had great victories afterwards.

He knows it too - that’s why he comfort eats!

[dirk2686]

Boxing has changed. It's no longer about good match ups and entertaining fights. It's about trash talking and hype especially in this country. Matchroom have a done good job of brainwashing people.

Yeah - Joshua Klitschko, Froch Groves, Brook Spence, Bellew Makubu. These are joke fights that make me long for the glory days when you got honest, proper, entertaining fights like Naz against Billy Hardy.

And who could forget those wonderful nights when we all made sure we were recording the likes of Calzaghe v Thornberry, or Starie, or Mkrtchyan, or Salem, or Pudwill, or McIntyre, or Sobot, or Manfredo, or Ashira, or Jiminez. They really were world title fights you wanted to watch time and time and time again. I personally remember exactly where I was when FW announced the Veit rematch. I suspect a lot of us do.

It's not like FW would ever try and con his audience by suggesting past their best fighters were relevant. Nobody could ever deny that it was a prime Barrera who came over to face Khan, appropriately on PPV. And speaking of Khan, I am utterly pig sick of being asked to pay pay per view fees for such unmitigated rubbish as Cleverly v Bellew and Whyte v Parker. I remember stumping up my money for Amir in his pick 'em thriller against Dimitri Salita, and I don't care who says it was over too quickly - the fight against Prescott was worth fifteen quid and if I could I would have paid more. How could you not with white-hot undercard action featuring Paul Smith against Danny Thornton, Matthew Hall against Taz Jones, and big Audley against Arias? Puts Mitchell Linares, Selby Gradovic and Joshua Johnson firmly in the shade.

Spot on...almost.

Delete the Bellew-Makubu from the first list. That belongs in the second and third paragraphs
Plastic title contested between the 5th/6th and 10th best cruiser at the time.

To be serious here, that was more put in because it was a big fight (in the sense of a stadium job) between two fairly evenly matched fighters. Bellew may not have all the talent in the world but he's been matched pretty hard (outsider twice against Haye, likewise Makubu, likewise Cleverly) which, as is suggested in the post above, something that didn't happen for a very, very long time when it came to the likes of Calzaghe, and for that matter, Ricky Hatton.

Yes, every fighter will have an easy night once in a while. But for those harking back to the glory days, just look at that list of Calzaghe opponents. God only knows what would happen if Hearn had served up that list of rubbish for someone like Froch.

[dirk2686]

Entire Middle East watching?! Any evidence for that? Were his fights even available in places like Iraq, Bahrain, Egypt, Israel? I doubt it.

Boxing has never been massive in the Middle East. It’s partly why there haven’t been big fights there in some of the richer countries - there just isn’t the interest.

I’m happy to be proven wrong as I was a big Naz fan.

Listen mate, pick your targets eh? What Mick don't know about Omani 1990's television viewing figures ain't worth knowing about. If he tells me more people in Kuwait were watching Naz fight Hardy than the Crown Prince's wedding why on earth would I disagree?

[John]

Usually Naz's changing room was one big party, boombox in the corner and loads of people gyrating around. Always before a fight I would go in and sort of wish him luck, I would say the same thing "I know your going to win and I hope you enjoy yourself". The Barrera fight I went down maybe 15 mins before he had to be in the ring. The room was silent, Naz was sat in the corner in an armchair and only Nabeel (his brother) was in there with him. Nabeel looked at me and said "you talk to him John" and left the room. Naz hadn't warmed up, he hadn't even got his gloves on. I tried to enthuse him but he was completely flat, not depressed just bored to tears by it all. A few minutes later a floor manger for HBO came into the room. She was panicking like mad, "we are live in 96 countries in ten minutes and he hasn't even gloved up yet", she looked at me, I just shrugged. I can't remember much after that but somehow we cajoled him into putting on his gloves and got him ringside. After the fight I was shell-shocked, it had never occurred to me that he could ever lose. In the hotel later Naz saw me and came over, he said "come on, cheer up, we are all on holiday now".