NAZ Interview after the khan fight

[Des1]

you no what i mean there both muslims and same religion stick togther like poop u nob

thats not necessarily true.

It is just that they are two boxers, with things in common, who are friends.

Muslims can be mates without people saying "You are only mates because you are Muslims.."

I have Catholic friends- I'm Catholic myself- but we aren't "sticking together" just because we are both of the same faith.

bollocks its all to do with there race you never hear naz big a white british fighter up cos ur catholic doesnt mean shite muslims do stick toghter end of

landon, you seem a very bitter, opinionated angry person

[Des1]

you no what i mean there both muslims and same religion stick togther like poop u nob

thats not necessarily true.

It is just that they are two boxers, with things in common, who are friends.

Muslims can be mates without people saying "You are only mates because you are Muslims.."

I have Catholic friends- I'm Catholic myself- but we aren't "sticking together" just because we are both of the same faith.

[Deserter]

naz loves amir cos there both asian simple as that.

Really?

Naz is of Yemeni ancestry which is in the Arabian Peninsula, I'm good friends with a girl who is of Syrian ancestry(also the Arabian Peninsula) and she didn't take kindly to being called an Asian.

Without wishing to stir up controversy there are a large number of Gulf Arabs who have Asian roots or who are mixed race. This is particularly true of areas like Oman, Yemen and the UAE which have traditionally had strong trading links with Pakistan and India. Given this it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest is Naz has ancestral links to Pakistan.
Syria is a different matter altogether.

[Hagler2002]

Why does every Khan/Naz thread descend into an argument about race :??

[bynino]

And its usually a stupid point about race. Naz is like every sportsman who is too old to compete. They identify with a fighter that most reminds them of themselves when they were doing the business. Nothing wrong with that. I think he always comes across quite well in interviews.

[mickey1975]

naz loves amir cos there both asian simple as that.

Really?

Naz is of Yemeni ancestry which is in the Arabian Peninsula, I'm good friends with a girl who is of Syrian ancestry(also the Arabian Peninsula) and she didn't take kindly to being called an Asian.

Without wishing to stir up controversy there are a large number of Gulf Arabs who have Asian roots or who are mixed race. This is particularly true of areas like Oman, Yemen and the UAE which have traditionally had strong trading links with Pakistan and India. Given this it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest is Naz has ancestral links to Pakistan.
Syria is a different matter altogether.

In Hamed's early career,there was an interview in,i think,Boxing Monthly,where he was keen to stress he was Arabic and not Asaian.There was a letter the following month from an upset Asian youth who was upset his hero was so keen to point this out.I think he just likes Khan.He has also been ringside for Hatton,and as mentioned,Benn,bruno and,obviously Rhodes.As Hamed seems to be slightly reclusive(doesnt do the celebrity circuit,etc) i dont think thats bad going.

[Deserter]

In Hamed's early career,there was an interview in,i think,Boxing Monthly,where he was keen to stress he was Arabic and not Asaian.

I remember it well, but having lived in the Arabian Peninsula on and off for the past decade I'm still shocked at how many Arabs of clearly mixed heritage move heaven and earth to deny the fact. I even know of one Indian woman who married an Emirati and from that point on went to extraordinary lengths to deny her heritage.
The sad fact is that racism exists everywhere - you'll even get Emiratis arguing over who is 'pure-blood' (descended from one of the original tribes), compared to those who are settlers from over the Gulf in Iran.
Unfortunately those from the subcontinent are frequently looked down on by Gulf Arabs and hence the last thing many are willing to do are acknowledge their own ancestral links with that region.
I should add that I'm not suggesting that is the case with Naz as I simply don't know.

[Roars Like Me]

Naz seems to be a genuine boxing fan hence him being at the fights.
I think he assumes he's going to get interviewed so that he can ultimately talk about himself at some stage - he misses the big fight days and an interview where he can inflate his ego a little seem to be enough to keep him ticking over.

[Wales]

Naz Was and still is a legend,Turned Pro at an early age and blasted away all his opponents.

There will never be another Naz. .

Barrera fans would have something to say about that post.

[mickey1975]

Naz seems to be a genuine boxing fan hence him being at the fights.
I think he assumes he's going to get interviewed so that he can ultimately talk about himself at some stage - he misses the big fight days and an interview where he can inflate his ego a little seem to be enough to keep him ticking over.

If that was the case,why does he keep out of the spotlight so much?Dont forget Naz was a genuine crossover star,and in todays reality t.v age,could be on telly as much as he chooses.I think he is a genuine boxing fan as well,he was going to shows all over Europe from a young age.

[lowersmiths]

he came across great in the interviews i have seen, the british boxing scene really does miss him.

[WayoftheCass]

Really?

Naz is of Yemeni ancestry which is in the Arabian Peninsula, I'm good friends with a girl who is of Syrian ancestry(also the Arabian Peninsula) and she didn't take kindly to being called an Asian.

Without wishing to stir up controversy there are a large number of Gulf Arabs who have Asian roots or who are mixed race. This is particularly true of areas like Oman, Yemen and the UAE which have traditionally had strong trading links with Pakistan and India. Given this it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest is Naz has ancestral links to Pakistan.
Syria is a different matter altogether.

In Hamed's early career,there was an interview in,i think,Boxing Monthly,where he was keen to stress he was Arabic and not Asaian.There was a letter the following month from an upset Asian youth who was upset his hero was so keen to point this out.I think he just likes Khan.He has also been ringside for Hatton,and as mentioned,Benn,bruno and,obviously Rhodes.As Hamed seems to be slightly reclusive(doesnt do the celebrity circuit,etc) i dont think thats bad going.

Controversial subject and Naz was pretty young at the time but didn't he say "I'm no Paki!" or words to that effect which ruffled a few feathers? I remember it in BM and if memory serves it wasn't that Naz denied that he was Pakistani that annoyed many but the way he said it. Ironic therefore that he has used Khan's success in order to re-emerge from the wilderness though you had to take everything Naz said with a pinch of salt and he often spoke before he thought!

[FLINT ISLAND]

Word is he is been employed as Hatton's nutritionist if Ricky does decide to make a comeback.

there training scedule will be knocking back 3 kebabs a day and 12 pints of guiness

Hatton / Naz training camp for a big upcoming World title fight


Morning - brisk walk down to the local grease and spoon for a full fry up breakfast daily special called -
"Heart attack on a plate"

Rest

Mid day - brisk walk down to the local chippy - xtra large chips and sausage and pies.

Tea time - Trip to local Wimpy for Xtra large meal - and Double Choclate Gateux for desert.

Night time - in the Pub for 15 pints of Stella.

Go to bed.

Day of Weigh in - come in 8 Stone over the Weight limit. - then desperatley lose all the weight in the sauna.

Blame then getting knocked out - on being drained at the weight

[Des1]

naz loves amir cos there both asian simple as that.

Really?

Naz is of Yemeni ancestry which is in the Arabian Peninsula, I'm good friends with a girl who is of Syrian ancestry(also the Arabian Peninsula) and she didn't take kindly to being called an Asian.

you no what i mean there both muslims and same religion stick togther like poop u nob

Why do you have to be so rude?, he is not a 'nob' because he has different opinion to you. And no, I dont guess he is a mind reader...just because you think all asians are muslim or all muslims 'have' to be asian. Maybe you are a 'nob' for thinking like that

[FLINT ISLAND]

Naz is described as a Yorksire Yemeni.

He lived in Yemen when he was very young - but his family moved back to Sheffield.

[DG.]

bollocks its all to do with there race you never hear naz big a white british fighter up cos ur catholic doesnt mean shite muslims do stick toghter end of

Ryan Rhodes!

[oliverfennell]

naz loves amir cos there both asian simple as that.

Really?

Naz is of Yemeni ancestry which is in the Arabian Peninsula, I'm good friends with a girl who is of Syrian ancestry(also the Arabian Peninsula) and she didn't take kindly to being called an Asian.

yeah I was about to ask him to point me to Yeman on a map of asia

[oliverfennell]

In Hamed's early career,there was an interview in,i think,Boxing Monthly,where he was keen to stress he was Arabic and not Asaian.There was a letter the following month from an upset Asian youth who was upset his hero was so keen to point this out.I think he just likes Khan.He has also been ringside for Hatton,and as mentioned,Benn,bruno and,obviously Rhodes.As Hamed seems to be slightly reclusive(doesnt do the celebrity circuit,etc) i dont think thats bad going.

But Arabia is part of Asia, is it not. Geographically speaking, at least. Similarly, white people from eastern Russia or Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, etc could correctly be called Asian.

But yes, of course it always is difficult to describe someone merely as "Asian", because it could mean almost anything, ethnically.

[twenty six]

I can't believe how threads like this degenerate into unnecessary controversy.
We're supposed to be on a boxing site !
The ignorance of some people has to be seen to be believed.
Naz I would always describe as a flawed genious.
I consider it a prevelage to have seen him close up from a young age.
I've never seen talent to compare, and doubt I ever will.
I've also been lucky to come to know the Naz outside the ring, as well as the showman.
He's a decent human being but has to carry the burden of his public image, and his odd transgretions, and before everyone shoots me down, no I'm not playing down the seriousness of his car accident.
There's no doubt his career curtailed far too early but while it lasted - what a career.
It's a strange phenomonon but elite sportsmen often crash and burn in a very public way - George Best, Gazza, Maradona, come to mind.
I'm sure others can think of several examples.
That's why I call him a flawed genious.
To hear people speak of Naz "sticking to his own" when he grew up in a Gym that broke down all barriers of race clour creed whatever you want to call it, is ridiculous.
I wish I was intelligent enough to know how to show it, but Johnny Nelson has just done a 10 minute slot for BBC Inside Out programme on Brendan, and if you can take a look, particularly the slot with Brian Anderson, it should destroy this myth of religious prejudice.It's on the BBC South Yorks website right now.
Naz and Ryan to this day speak regularly, and have the odd round of golf.
For the record, Ryan is not religious, but by the book, is Church of England.
They are good close friends.
OK maybe many will say he doesn't deserve it, but I welcome seeing Naz back in boxing, the other side of the ropes, and I hope we see more of him.
The comments about his weight amuse Naz as much as the next man - he'll laugh along with it.
However, if his every single word of utteration is scutinised to the x degree and distorted and twisted to create controversy then that's unfair.
Anyway, Naz is from Sheffield born and bred !

[hitman_hatton1]

still a big headed twat features then.

bring the autobiography out naz.

u know it makes sense. :P

[hitman_hatton1]

I've also been lucky to come to know the Naz outside the ring, as well as the showman.

next time u see him tell him to sort an autobiography out.

always wanted to hear his version of events.

[banjo]

I've also read since this I posted that he was born to Yemeni parents of Moroccan descent.

[twenty six]

Don't quite get your comment Hitman.
Big headed then ?
Yes - but he could back it up.
Big headed now ?
Yes - but is there anything wrong with that ?
Give me the Naz's of this World all day every day, comparable to the likes of Small who simply cannot back anything up.
There are a few posters around this place who have a far greater insight than me into Naz.
Big Lennox will have trained with him.
Dave Coldwell grew up in the Gym at the same time.
Be interesting to get their slant on things.
Even Beagleboy would have a good insight I'm sure.
The heaviest thing I've lifted in my life is a pen.
I couldn't knock my way out of a paper bag !
I can only say what I've seen this side of the ropes, and what I saw was a decent kid, with talent far and way beyond any boxing talent I've ever seen.

[skelp]

Naz was a great character, he put British boxing on the map after the demise of Benn and Eubank. It was sad to see him retire with such a whimper.

The biggest mistake he made was fighting southpaw, he should have remained a switch-hitter; and the Barrera fight may have been a whole lot different.

[Deserter]

The biggest mistake he made was fighting southpaw.

The biggest mistake Naz made was relying on his God-given talent, not training properly and losing the proverbial 'eye of the tiger', not fighting Southpaw!