A Look Back at Naseem Hamed

[Autobarn]

massive talent but not a great.

i didn't think he was assertive enough - too often, wating for the other guy to walk onto his shots.

i believe he fell in love with his power winning the world title in an amaing performance v steve robinson, but never looked the same again. stopped a lot of good, world class fighters but often looked shaky doing so. think his ego just completely went out of control, he relied too much on the power, and that attitude got him in trouble vs his 1st GREAT opponent, barrera, who took him to school and made him look a shadow of his old self.

he is what he is. hugely successful, brought massive stage to the lower weights, due to his power, athleticism ali-cockiness (but came across unpleasant, as opposed to ali who sometimes you couldn't tell if he was kidding) and eubank-style gimmickry.

[mrbassie]

I've always thought there was a bit of a case of Tysonitis with Hamed, remarkably similar decline. Two guys who came from gyms where they did things a little differently-taught a style that you really don't get anywhere else. Both sacked the people who helped get them to the top and hooked up with people who didn't understand the way they boxed. The blunting of both guy's skills was almost inevitable.

[fasteddie]

It's true..........

He wasn't an all time great and yet neither was he some domestic plodder. The proof is in the pudding, who did he fight and who did he beat compared with his contemporaries. He was a good world champion who perhaps could have done more in the fight game. As for what he was like as a person, Johnny Nelson sums him up. Johnny says that a bloke approached Naz in his Bentley when they were both in the car and this guy had a small child with him. The guy asked Naz for an autograph and Naz told him to Fuk off. It was enough for Nelson to give him the rods. I personally met the guy and he was a dick.

this has just changed my whole opinion of him,what a gobshite he is, I think Ryan Rhodes has the same type of attitude as naz I was in the changing rooms in Everton sports centre with a friend who was fighting once and Ryan Rhodes was there and he stood on his own didn't mingle with anyone and didn't even say hello just stood there with a frown across his face,and he wasn't there fighting he was there with people he knew,who were fighting.

I don't know if these things are true or not about Naseem, If they are it is not good on Naseems part, but if they are not true, then it is not right to ruin an ex fighters rep. A friend of mine runs an amatuer gym in Birmingham, only a small one, that is not well funded, they have a lot of kids fighting for them, last year they organised a home show and asked the manager of a top boxer, if his boxer could hand out trophy's for the kids and have his picture taken ect.. The manager asked for £7,000, they then rung a friend of a friend of Naseem and Naseem traveled on his own expense, for no fee and handed out trophys, joked and played with the kids, posed for photos and then went for a meal with some of the adults from the club, so he can't be all bad. Before smart arse comes back on with "how do you know it it's true ? " I seen the pictures.

aww now thats a better story of him

[safeerah]

What industy are you in?

He's a UN peacekeeper.

Is that what they are ?

[safeerah]

this has just changed my whole opinion of him,what a gobshite he is, I think Ryan Rhodes has the same type of attitude as naz I was in the changing rooms in Everton sports centre with a friend who was fighting once and Ryan Rhodes was there and he stood on his own didn't mingle with anyone and didn't even say hello just stood there with a frown across his face,and he wasn't there fighting he was there with people he knew,who were fighting.

I don't know if these things are true or not about Naseem, If they are it is not good on Naseems part, but if they are not true, then it is not right to ruin an ex fighters rep. A friend of mine runs an amatuer gym in Birmingham, only a small one, that is not well funded, they have a lot of kids fighting for them, last year they organised a home show and asked the manager of a top boxer, if his boxer could hand out trophy's for the kids and have his picture taken ect.. The manager asked for £7,000, they then rung a friend of a friend of Naseem and Naseem traveled on his own expense, for no fee and handed out trophys, joked and played with the kids, posed for photos and then went for a meal with some of the adults from the club, so he can't be all bad. Before smart arse comes back on with "how do you know it it's true ? " I seen the pictures.

aww now thats a better story of him

You know sometimes boxers put on a false bad guy image to sell tickets, but in reality they can be very quite guys away from the camera's

[bugs]

You have lost the argument and so have to resort to being rude. I am not a boxing trainer and so it is pretty obvious that i have not produced boxing champions. I have not devalued any of Brendan's achievements, merely put them in a proper context. The only world champions to come out of Brendan's gym have been Hamed and Nelson, the rest were decent to good domestic or Euro fighters such as Rhodes, Anderson and Graham was a world class fighter who had bad luck. Hamed was a very good champion and Nelson also, but they could not be described as great champions. This clearly highlights that you know very little about how to judge a fighter's acomplishments or get passed your bias childishness to give some cold hearted objectivety. I repeat, Hamed was a very good fighter, but he wasn't a great fighter and his record proves it. Compare his record to that of his contempories such as Marquez, Barrera and Morales and you will see that it is you who should be warning people of impending water droughts.

What about Woods and Witter?

what wood? clinton woods? i dont think he was trained by brendan ingle ya know mate.

Maybe not for his whole career, but he definately trained with Ingle for a fair while.

It is mentioned in a few artcles and wikipedia entries, this one for example "learning his trade at Brendan Ingle's gym in Wincobank, which produced Herol Graham, Clinton Woods, Jonny Nelson, Junior Witter and, of course, Naseem Hamed."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/boxing/13594726