Early Naseem Hamed

jamesmcdonnell · Post by **jamesmcdonnell** » 17 Jul 2006, 11:04

Terence wrote:Hamed did not lose to Barrera because of reflexes he lost because his balance was never great and it relied on a guy coming forward into his big shots. What you need to beat Hamed is the ability to step in quickly with the 1-2 and then get out of range, once you've thrown his balance in this way he'll load up every time he can and you can box rings around him.

Age did not trip him up versus Barrera, a lack of boxing intelligence and his own technique did. Give him a guy who will march into him and he'd probably look awsome now.

Ingle and McCulloch both did better than expected. I think like many big hitters, Hamed struggled once he found he couldn't get someone out of there, psychlogically it dented his confidence. Usually though, by the time that happened he was a long way in front.

Hamed never learnt to fight orthodox and just work behind a jab and rack up points, his balance was better earlier in his career, but he always had dubious footwork which he only carried off because of his incredible natural reflexes. But being loose was what his style was all about, without it he would not have been half the fighter, it was all about confidence and rattling the opponent.

Autobarn · Post by **Autobarn** » 17 Jul 2006, 11:33

stujones wrote:Yes, Ingle didn't get the credit he deserved... Completely agree and agree it wasn't an off night (cause I think had Hamed been off he wouldn't have got the late KO and might have lost). Had Hamed and Ingle had the opportunity to go at it again, I think the outcome would have been different. Ingle was an excellent fighter... different league to Harrison and Cook IMO.

However, although I would have tipped Ingle in a rematch, I do have to say I wouldn't have been confident cause Ingle wasn't a great pacer of fights. He was down and hurt late in all his world title fights.

I always liked Paul Ingle. His fight with Colin McMillan is one of my all time ave British fights. Michael Hunter is a poor man's Ingle.

scottyboy_1978 · Post by **scottyboy_1978** » 17 Jul 2006, 13:35

Dont think many opponents would walk right into him now.

After Barerra's in and out strategy proved so succesfull i would think that anyone fighting him in the future would adopt the same.

Naz's balance was always an issue for me too..........fair enough he was hard to hit when leaning back but if he was hit when coming forward he was all over the place.

After watching recent bouts featuring Morales , Manny etc.......Naz always springs to mind . I just couldnt see him going through wars like those two.....in the Kelly fight he did fight hard but he wasnt a patch on those guys.

tboy100 · Post by **tboy100** » 18 Jul 2006, 18:28

Alway's thought that the earlier version of Hamed seemed like a better fighter. Fair enough the quality of the comp wasn't as demanding but he just seemed a bit faster and stronger below Feather. You could argue the strength factor, as he grew into a featherweight, but it seemed like that edge was missing from before.

Have not seen his old fights for ages, but i remember when he stopped Sergio Liendo he looked pure quality. On Hamed - Castro fight had castro never been stopped before or on the canvas? something like that?
I remember Hamed doing one of his classics in this fight, which he subsequently did in other fights. Decked Castro with a half push half slap that made a massive noise.

Used to find it quite funny when hamed was doing this to people, bullying them and chucking them around. Oh how times change, or should i say fighters in this case.

nickd · Post by **nickd** » 19 Jul 2006, 01:17

Correct he had never been stopped in his very next fight it took a young Erik Morales 10 rounds to stop him.

jamesmcdonnell · Post by **jamesmcdonnell** » 19 Jul 2006, 04:58

tboy100 wrote:Alway's thought that the earlier version of Hamed seemed like a better fighter. Fair enough the quality of the comp wasn't as demanding but he just seemed a bit faster and stronger below Feather. You could argue the strength factor, as he grew into a featherweight, but it seemed like that edge was missing from before.

Have not seen his old fights for ages, but i remember when he stopped Sergio Liendo he looked pure quality. On Hamed - Castro fight had castro never been stopped before or on the canvas? something like that?
I remember Hamed doing one of his classics in this fight, which he subsequently did in other fights. Decked Castro with a half push half slap that made a massive noise. Used to find it quite funny when hamed was doing this to people, bullying them and chucking them around. Oh how times change, or should i say fighters in this case.

Wasn't so funny when Barrera got Hamed's head and slammed it into the corner post though was it. He got 'boyed off' that night,