Prince Naz Heavybag

[jamesmcdonnell]

They have to give the corner time to fix it and it got worse.

Horseshite. He bled like a stuck pig from the moment the cut happened. If you can't see that they were letting it go to the scorecards, you must be mad or naïve.

no you don't understand the boxing industry, the ref should give the corner the chance to fix it, one of my fighters had a cut and it was stopped to early, I did not get the chance to fix it, afterwards the Doctor and the ref got some stick, from people there.

I understand that they should give them a chance to staunch the flow, but they had a chance to fix it and failed. He was cut in the 1st round, they had two rounds to fix it, and it bled profusely obscuring Barrera's vision, so why did they wait until 4 rounds were completed, makes no sense except of course to give the home fighter the advantage. A cut like that was NEVER going to be staunched, it bled as freely in the 2nd and 3rd as it did in the first and Barrera could not see clearly. Rewatch the fight.

[jamesmcdonnell]

They have to give the corner time to fix it and it got worse.

Horseshite. He bled like a stuck pig from the moment the cut happened. If you can't see that they were letting it go to the scorecards, you must be mad or naïve.

no you don't understand the boxing industry, the ref should give the corner the chance to fix it, one of my fighters had a cut and it was stopped to early, I did not get the chance to fix it, afterwards the Doctor and the ref got some stick, from people there.

The referee has the right to stop a contest at any time he sees fit, either following advice from a doctor, or because he feels it is a danger for a fighter to continue, it may be convention for a ref to give the corner time to allow them to stem the bleeding, but it is not a ruling.

In any case, they had ample chance to fix it, he bled like a stuck pig from the moment he was cut, and throughout the fight, with blood running continuously into his left eye.

[Anzi]

Horseshite. He bled like a stuck pig from the moment the cut happened. If you can't see that they were letting it go to the scorecards, you must be mad or naïve.

no you don't understand the boxing industry, the ref should give the corner the chance to fix it, one of my fighters had a cut and it was stopped to early, I did not get the chance to fix it, afterwards the Doctor and the ref got some stick, from people there.

I understand that they should give them a chance to staunch the flow, but they had a chance to fix it and failed. He was cut in the 1st round, they had two rounds to fix it, and it bled profusely obscuring Barrera's vision, so why did they wait until 4 rounds were completed, makes no sense except of course to give the home fighter the advantage. A cut like that was NEVER going to be staunched, it bled as freely in the 2nd and 3rd as it did in the first and Barrera could not see clearly. Rewatch the fight.

The cut was on the top of the head, it was unlikely that he will be hit there again, were as a cut round the eye will be struck again, now leave it at that.

[jamesmcdonnell]

no you don't understand the boxing industry, the ref should give the corner the chance to fix it, one of my fighters had a cut and it was stopped to early, I did not get the chance to fix it, afterwards the Doctor and the ref got some stick, from people there.

I understand that they should give them a chance to staunch the flow, but they had a chance to fix it and failed. He was cut in the 1st round, they had two rounds to fix it, and it bled profusely obscuring Barrera's vision, so why did they wait until 4 rounds were completed, makes no sense except of course to give the home fighter the advantage. A cut like that was NEVER going to be staunched, it bled as freely in the 2nd and 3rd as it did in the first and Barrera could not see clearly. Rewatch the fight.

The cut was on the top of the head, it was unlikely that he will be hit there again, were as a cut round the eye will be struck again, now leave it at that.

No, I won't leave it at that, thanks anyway for the direction; the cut may have been high on the head, but the blood was going directly into his left eye. Doesn't matter whether he gets hit there again or not.

The cut was no better, and no worse, after 4 completed rounds. The fight should either have been stopped earlier, or they should have let him continue, it was a pretty cynical decision, which enabled Khan to get a decision, rather than the fight being stopped inside 4 rounds and there being a no contest ruling.

You can claim whatever superior knowledge you like, I don't really care, I've watched more than enough boxing over the years to know what I watched transpire.

[Anzi]

The fight was stopped on the doctor's advice, as the cut was due to a clash of heads, it then goes to the scorecards, if more than 4 rounds are completed. If he was stopped on cuts from a punch, that would be a TKO, rather than a TD.

You said he had been stopped on his record ?

The fight was stopped, due to a cut, and taken to the scorecards. Do you have some sort of mental deficiency. Do you not know what the term 'stopped' means?

Do you not realize what comes out of your brain and do only have a short memory ?

[jamesmcdonnell]

You said he had been stopped on his record ?

The fight was stopped, due to a cut, and taken to the scorecards. Do you have some sort of mental deficiency. Do you not know what the term 'stopped' means?

Do you not realize what comes out of your brain and do only have a short memory ?

No.

[Autobarn]

I used to truly despise Naz. So happy when Barrera beat him. But now he is undervalued.

But looking back, his fight with Kelley is a legendary shootout and Kelley had pedigree; just look at KK's riveting WBC title run of fights versus Goyo Vargas, Troy Dorsey and (stopped on eye swellings accumulating from all the wars by...) Alejandro Gonzalez. Kelley staged a remarkable comeback, blasting out Derrick Gainer in one of the great nights on HBO's wonderful Boxing After Dark series, to earn the Naz fight.

I believe Naz beat holders of all the four major titles: WBO (Robinson), WBC (Soto), IBF (Johnson) and WBA (Vazquez). Any other Brit beat all four title holders in a given weight class?... Not to mention Bungu was IBF holder one weight down when Naz faced him. And by the way that's 4 out of 5 stopped.

Naz lost to Barrera but what he did should be appreciated. This was a tremendous featherweight era in which he scored major wins. The other asterisk against him is that JM Marquez was his top contender but didn't get the title shot - but at this time the real JMM was not ready to stand up; he was a pretty timid counter puncher and wouldn't bloom until later when he overcome much of his cautious style that held him back ever so slightly.

[Anzi]

I used to truly despise Naz. So happy when Barrera beat him. But now he is undervalued.

But looking back, his fight with Kelley is a legendary shootout and Kelley had pedigree; just look at KK's riveting WBC title run of fights versus Goyo Vargas, Troy Dorsey and (stopped on eye swellings accumulating from all the wars by...) Alejandro Gonzalez. Kelley staged a remarkable comeback, blasting out Derrick Gainer in one of the great nights on HBO's wonderful Boxing After Dark series, to earn the Naz fight.

I believe Naz beat holders of all the four major titles: WBO (Robinson), WBC (Soto), IBF (Johnson) and WBA (Vazquez). Any other Brit beat all four title holders in a given weight class?... Not to mention Bungu was IBF holder one weight down when Naz faced him. And by the way that's 4 out of 5 stopped.

Naz lost to Barrera but what he did should be appreciated. This was a tremendous featherweight era in which he scored major wins. The other asterisk against him is that JM Marquez was his top contender but didn't get the title shot - but at this time the real JMM was not ready to stand up; he was a pretty timid counter puncher and wouldn't bloom until later when he overcome much of his cautious style that held him back ever so slightly.

Very well put ! Interesting you mentioned "Kelley staged a remarkable comeback, blasting out Derrick Gainer in one of the great nights on HBO's wonderful Boxing After Dark series, to earn the Naz fight", was not Gainer, Roy Jones jr's guy ? I seem remember them saying he was the next big thing, that he was the the man to beat Naz ? It's a good job he did not fight Naz, he would have got smoked. Sometimes boxing fans tend undervalue fighters that they don't like, fighters who are cocky, rather then judging them on ability.

[crusader]

I don't think Naz is undervalued, at least if that's being used as a synonym for underrated. It's generally acknowledged that he brought attention to the sport, had a lot of flare and ability, and put together solid wins in entertaining fashion. However, despite beating several champs I don't think they were of a class that would allow Naz to be placed among all-time greats like MAB, Pac, and Morales, and it's fair to note that he was handily bested the only time he did face someone of that caliber.

I think see people make excuses for the Barrera loss more often than I see people suggest that he wasn't all that.

[Autobarn]

His achievements are taken for granted. A lot of things he did, people are crying out for our current lads to do. No one is saying he's an all time great. He was soundly outboxed by Barrera. But well before that he had major achievements beating four different featherweight title holders and winning one of the classic shootouts in the featherweight division.

Johnson, Kelley, Vazquez, Robinson, etc were no joke. Just look at Johnson's fierce rivalry with Medina; Kelley's KO of Gainer and the prior, fierce run with the WBC belt;, Vazquez soundly out boxing a top 5 p4p guy Canizales, losing narrowly to the huge talent Miguel Lora or blasting out Rojas late in that fight (one of the greatest and most dramatic KOs at 126); Robinson, a Glen Johnson of the '90s, taking John Davison's best and storming back in their classic fight.

They weren't in their primes apart from Robinson but this is a formidable pool of talent that provided dozens of quality and exciting championship rounds.

After Naz only Froch would have such a ferocious schedule, against such diverse (in terms of style and nationality) opposition.

[crusader]

I think Naz generally gets at least as much credit as he deserves for those accomplishments, and it seems to be a consensus view that he was quite entertaining and played an important role in raising the sport's popularity.

[Grilling Machine]

He was the most gifted boxer of the '90s after Whitaker and Jones for me. Most entertaining, too.

(My favourite style-wise was Trinidad. So crisp.)

[brilo33]

No, this isn't a thread calling him a fat c{}nt

Years ago I remember seeing Naz doing a session on the heavybag & it was a bit mental.

Anyone remember it, or even better, have a video they can post? Or any others of him training when he was decent (i.e. before he started to ignore the "Tick Paddy" (Brendan Ingles own words)

Cheers

p.s. Prince Naz sometimes went by the name of Naseem Hamed, as well as Prisoner Number 6284187 for a few months.

yeah remember it , him dancing around it bang bag swinging putting his chin in front of it dodging it , haven't read the posts yet

[Furey]

The Kevin Kelley fight was just class, god knows how many times I've watched it but sheer entertainment.

Would he have beaten Barerra had it been a little while earlier, under Ingle and actually training properly? Who knows, but the Naz that did step in with Barerra wasn't him at his best.

His hands were gone towards the end of his career, he'd made his money and wasn't putting the proper shift in during camp - he got out at the right time.

[Grilling Machine]

That's the great shame - that he lost his spark (not power) in his last few years. His biggest wins were during that time, but he no longer amazed me as he had done throughout his run from Robinson to Johnson.

[jamesmcdonnell]

That's the great shame - that he lost his spark (not power) in his last few years. His biggest wins were during that time, but he no longer amazed me as he had done throughout his run from Robinson to Johnson.

That's part of what makes a great fighter, staying dedicated to your craft. Naz had the talent for sure, but not the mindset - it's why Barrera is an ATG and Naz just falls short.

I think Naz did retire at the right time, his heart wasn't in it any more, he wasn't prepared to put in the work to get the results.

[Autobarn]

I'm glad Naz got in the Hall of Fame, by the way.

He did take on many very good fighters, from many countries, in a tough era, and stopped most of them. Apart from Lennox and Froch, this does not happen with British fighters, taking lots of risks.

He was a British fighter in the top 10 pound for pound rankings, for a few years.

Was perhaps the #1 puncher p4p in the world while champion.

beat holders of the WBO, WBC, IBF & WBA belts, my guess is the only man in history.

It was an event when he fought and he brought the major money into the weights around featherweight. I believe the only Brit in America who got paid more per fight was Lennox, an undisputed heavyweight champion.

Yes Naz got outboxed by one of the greatest of all time but that can happen. It's a mercy he retired if his reflexes, his hands and his desire were all gone. Props to a fighter like Barrera who can overcome adversity, who can rebound from defeats (2 apiece) at the hands of Junior Jones and Manny Pacquiao, keep winning championships and continuing the all time great rivalry with Morales, winning it 2-1 and grabbing his world title in a 3rd weight.

[Taansend]

No, this isn't a thread calling him a fat c{}nt

Years ago I remember seeing Naz doing a session on the heavybag & it was a bit mental.

Anyone remember it, or even better, have a video they can post? Or any others of him training when he was decent (i.e. before he started to ignore the "Tick Paddy" (Brendan Ingles own words)

Cheers

p.s. Prince Naz sometimes went by the name of Naseem Hamed, as well as Prisoner Number 6284187 for a few months.

yeah remember it , him dancing around it bang bag swinging putting his chin in front of it dodging it , haven't read the posts yet

That's the one, mate.

I can't remember if I answered my own post yet or not so (at the risk of repeating myself) I remember when Naz was about 14 years old & Boxing News was banging on about him being a world champ from Fly to Feather. He was about the same height at that age but skinny as fornicate. He just went from a thin speedster to a stocky, unorthodox, kayo artist.

I, for a joke, had a picture of him when he was about 16, in a frame on top of my telly. It looked like a family portrait. People would often ask who it was......

[Autobarn]

Just counted his number of title defenses - didn't know it was as high as 15. 15, with no significant drops in quality. In terms of quality/quantity ratio only Lewis is better, with, going by memory, 16 successful title defenses.

After the masterclass over Robinson, Naz changed his style. Seemed to lose his patience, filled out at the weight, becoming more fleshy and slow, and go looking for the KO a lot more.

He really was a master on the way up, defeating good fighters like Belcastro and Freddie Cruz with contemptuous ease, walking them on to shots. Stopped doing it after Robbo. Was it the move up in weight, taking on rangier fighters? Was it the step up in class? Was it overconfidence, ego and arrogance after so many impressive KO wins? Bad hands, eroding reflexes, lack of desire?

Either way, when he fought it was an event, there were thrilling victories and there weren't many he didn't face from his era.

MAB's solution to the Naz style was basic but masterfully executed: make him come to you, off balance and box his ears off.