BoxRec

Real time what ifs....not prime vs prime. I'm talking early 2001 here. Morales hurts his funny bone and has to postpone, Naseem wants a serious fight and
so one of these shows up on that day in April of 2001.


1. Diego Corrales who just beat Derrick Gainer, and was about to be beaten by Mayweather?
2. Johnny Tapia who is about to beat Cesar Soto?
3. Freddy Norwood who was just beaten by Derrick Gainer?
4. Eric Morales who is about to beat In Jin Chi?
5. Mayweather who just beat Augustus but has not yet fought Diego but has trouble making the FW limit?
6. Gainer who just beat Norwood?

1) Hamed by KO fairly early.

2) Hamed by wide decision

3) Hamed by wide decision

4) Morales by clear decision

5) Mayweather by TKO

6) Hamed by KO after chasing him down

Morales is the tough one for me. If he forgets to box, I'm thinking he's vulnerable.

And would Mayweather's ability to make featherweight be a problem at that point? Wasn't he struggling to even make SFW?

Diego would be a shoot out as well.

BoxBuzz wrote:Morales is the tough one for me. If he forgets to box, I'm thinking he's vulnerable.

And would Mayweather's ability to make featherweight be a problem at that point? Wasn't he struggling to even make SFW?

Diego would be a shoot out as well.

Hamed would have to move up to fight Floyd. I think Morales back up, outslug and all around beat up Hamed.

Morales was not as smart as Antonio, who knew to leave his willingness to slug it out at home on that day. Now granted, Morales is surely better than Naseem, AND he never met a fighter he wasn't willing to slug it out with. So...if he decides to get macho with the Prince, this goes from being a certainty for Morales, to a near certainty for Naseem.

Otherwise I see it the same as you...though I'm not sure all those w's for Hamed end up getting to the judges.

So....the Mayweather fight would have never happened, since the Prince never considered moving up in weight class....until AFTER he retired. Now he's a HW of course.

LOL, it's hard to recognize him. I don't see any reason to believe the prince could outslug Morales. We couldn't be further apart on that one. Erik trying to box would give hamed his only chance to win imo.

At that point in time, Morales was only a Jr FW....ao Hamed had a bit of a size advantage on that day, and there is no doubt that Hamed has an edge in power and a better ability to defend, though Morales was faster. At that moment in time, I'm not sure it's all that cut and dry. But Morales speed might be all he needed I suppose. Nassem would simply be facing a slightly smaller version of Barrera...but don't forget, that Morales would have been MORE willing to slug it out with Naseem. And that's why I think that fight would not be as one sided as the Barerra fight on that particular day.

I hear you, it's my contention that slugging with him would be a good thing for Erik. He would definitely eat some bombs, it would be more entertaining than the MAB fight. That's for sure.

SaadOffTheDeck wrote:I hear you, it's my contention that slugging with him would be a good thing for Erik. He would definitely eat some bombs, it would be more entertaining than the MAB fight. That's for sure.

Dunno, mate --- I found it plenty entertaining when that wretched, posturing little weasel had his head slammed face-first into the turnbuckle...

Yep, and he probably figured he was far enough ahead to sustain the point deduction. Something Morales would not be calculating.

MAB...one of the most calculating fighters ever. Smart guy.

SaadOffTheDeck wrote:I hear you, it's my contention that slugging with him would be a good thing for Erik. He would definitely eat some bombs, it would be more entertaining than the MAB fight. That's for sure.

I agree with such a contention. Erik's better technique, even while slugging, and his handspeed would give him some clear advantages even if he might have to peel himself up off the canvas in order to do the job on the cocky Prince. Morales also is the one with the size advantage here, because he was a big drainer at 122, he was essentially the same weight or heavier than Naseem at this point.

BoxBuzz wrote:Yep, and he probably figured he was far enough ahead to sustain the point deduction. Something Morales would not be calculating.

MAB...one of the most calculating fighters ever. Smart guy.

Shrewd fighter when he had his head screwed on straight, but he was still prone to brain-explosions & a short temper.

BoxBuzz wrote: 1. Diego Corrales who just beat Derrick Gainer, and was about to be beaten by Mayweather?
2. Johnny Tapia who is about to beat Cesar Soto?
3. Freddy Norwood who was just beaten by Derrick Gainer?
4. Eric Morales who is about to beat In Jin Chi?
5. Mayweather who just beat Augustus but has not yet fought Diego but has trouble making the FW limit?
6. Gainer who just beat Norwood?

1) Hamed by wide decison. (Diego would be lose the his power squeezing further more for his size at feather)
2) Hamed by decision (I feel a bad style for Tapia)
3) Hamed by wide points (Hamed outclasses him)
4) Morales by close decision (Hamed wins early rounds but Morales wear him out)
5) Mayweather by decision (ala Barrera)
6) Hamed by decision (it would be a KO for Hamed, had Gainer not decided to ride his bike)

Goodnight, Irene wrote:
Shrewd fighter when he had his head screwed on straight, but he was still prone to brain-explosions & a short temper.

Perfect summation of MAB's in-ring intelligence there mate. The late punch vs. Marquez still boggles my mind:

"Yay! Thank feck for that! I've made an impression on him! Down he goes. Wait, the ref's not dragged me off yet. Where is he? Still five feet away. Hmmm. Let's wait another second. Yeah, that'll do. Now. Have another one, bitch!"

Truly either one of the stupidest or nastiest fouls I can remember seeing in a superfight.

Datsue wrote:

Goodnight, Irene wrote:
Shrewd fighter when he had his head screwed on straight, but he was still prone to brain-explosions & a short temper.

Perfect summation of MAB's in-ring intelligence there mate. The late punch vs. Marquez still boggles my mind:

"Yay! Thank feck for that! I've made an impression on him! Down he goes. Wait, the ref's not dragged me off yet. Where is he? Still five feet away. Hmmm. Let's wait another second. Yeah, that'll do. Now. Have another one, bitch!"

Truly either one of the stupidest or nastiest fouls I can remember seeing in a superfight.

Indeed. Barrera was a smart fighter, but he had in him a real nasty temper, which sometimes did get the better of him.

Remarkably similar late shot on a downed fighter in round one of Casamayor-Katsidis (under-rated action scrap), which I was watching recently, BTW. Barrera & Casamayor could've been mighty close, & plenty interesting once upon a time. Marquez is a common opponent for them.

Goodnight, Irene wrote:

Datsue wrote:

Goodnight, Irene wrote:
Shrewd fighter when he had his head screwed on straight, but he was still prone to brain-explosions & a short temper.

Perfect summation of MAB's in-ring intelligence there mate. The late punch vs. Marquez still boggles my mind:

"Yay! Thank feck for that! I've made an impression on him! Down he goes. Wait, the ref's not dragged me off yet. Where is he? Still five feet away. Hmmm. Let's wait another second. Yeah, that'll do. Now. Have another one, bitch!"

Truly either one of the stupidest or nastiest fouls I can remember seeing in a superfight.

Indeed. Barrera was a smart fighter, but he had in him a real nasty temper, which sometimes did get the better of him.

Remarkably similar late shot on a downed fighter in round one of Casamayor-Katsidis (under-rated action scrap), which I was watching recently, BTW. Barrera & Casamayor could've been mighty close, & plenty interesting once upon a time. Marquez is a common opponent for them.

I think that temper is part of why a well-to-do kid like him went into boxing in the first place. Hard to imagine such a firebrand in a courtroom not battering whomever his opposition was.

I personally think Barrera would've beaten Casamayor. Joel's quickness always enabled his trickiness to count for more than it would have otherwise but MAB always had very fast hands and he could close in on opponents remakably well. I could only imagine what would've happened if Joel fouled him though. I still can't get the images from the Agapito Sanchez scrap amongst others out of my head. Few other fighters caught Barrera's ire as much as Sanchez.

^^^Casamayor would surely test that, though. There's no, 'If' to it, IMO. Casamayor would foul him, as sure as he would throw a jab. He was a grub, & Barrera's response would've been very intriguing to witness.

i would have casamayor very narrowly beating MAB, should they have met, FWIW

Counter-puncher wrote:i would have casamayor very narrowly beating MAB, should they have met, FWIW

Yup. Naturally much bigger than Marco (wasn't MAB WBC #1 super-fly contender for years & then moved straight up to super-bantam out of pique when they wouldn't give him a title shot? Or did I imagine that?), underrated left-hand hitter, great chin, good defence. Would have been very very hard for Marco, that one.

On the subject of the thread--which it appears I have thus far neglected in my ruminations on MAB's temperament, apologies--I think it'd go something like this:

VS. Corrales: Unsure. I can see Hamed hitting him with one he doesn't see coming & then goodnight, Diego; conversely, I look at the two of them & think "Fvck me, Corrales was about eight inches taller!", & then I think of the uncomfortable time Hamed had with Medina (though as ever I have heard that he had a cold/stopped taking the game seriously enough/stopped training/broken his psychic link with the Ingles/would always be troubled by such a rangy guy -- delete as your personal prejudices alllow) & I can't quite get a mental picture of the fight. It'd be ugly, though.

2) Hamed by clear decision; Tapia stays outside & tries his boxing thing (like he did vs. Romero/Konadu/Julio) but lacked the power & strength to trouble Hamed.

3) Norwood: can't imagine it. Too ugly for words. I can see Hamed flattening him & I can also see it turning into the world's most unpleasant sprawling foulfest. Nasty.

4) Morales would, as I've said before, be too stupid & too macho to beat Hamed. He lacked the discipline to box Naz all night without exchanging on Naz's terms & even though I think he'd beat the ever-living shite out of the Yorkshireman for ninety per cent of the fight, sooner or later he'd do something stupid & get carried out of the ring.

5) Mayweather would surely be at 9stone 4lbs; in which case he makes Hamed look very silly indeed on the way to a wide decision win.

6) Gainer would give Naz fits. Out of a three-fight series I could see Gainer taking one off of him or making it a tie. Horrible style for Naz in 2001 -- lots of length & snappy left hand hitter & a complete unwillingness to engage closely would drive Hamed nuts. Though with the obvious proviso that Naz could take his head clean off any time he actually connected...

#4....I agree wholeheartedly.

Naseem vs Corrales I see this, a 50/50 fight. I see Naseem odd angles giving Corrales a lot of problems. At the same time

Naseem did not have an iron chin and Corrales has always a punchers chance. Especially with his reach advantage.

Naseem would stop Tapia who was never too bright in the ring.

Naseem would stop Norwood.

I see Morales beating the crap out of Naseem. Morales did have the tendency to go to war, but he was a much better boxer than given credit for. He would have out-boxed Naseem badly. Morales by wide UD or TKO.

Naseem power is useless against Mayweather. This would’ve have been an easy win for Mayweather.

Naseem would’ve KO Gainer sooner or later.

The size difference between Hamed and Corrales would have been immense.

Hamed made his debut at super-flyweight and was able to have pretty big legs at 126lbs. The fight would have had to take place at 130lbs. Come fight time Corrales would have looked two weight classes bigger than Hamed, as well as having a 6" on him in both height and reach.

Floyd was also a much bigger man, even in his days at 130, than Hamed.