Naz weighs in at middleweight

bennie · Post by **bennie** » 18 Jan 2004, 09:08

By James Mossop
(Filed: 18/01/2004)

Evasion was a strength for Naseem Hamed. He could duck, weave, feint, bob and slip away from any punch they cared to throw at him. Until he met Marco Antonio Barrera in Las Vegas on April 7, 2001.

That was the night he lost his unbeaten record, his pride, his IBO featherweight title and his allure. He has fought once since, a turgid points win over Manuel Calvo, who could probably walk through his Spanish home town unnoticed, in May 2002.

Now he is using evasive tactics in a very different way, becoming boxing without the sense of adventure. The boy who flaunted and taunted, who could be brilliant and brutal in his leopard-skin shorts, has become an overweight absentee boxer.

Where he used to boast that he could "walk the walk and talk the talk", he is now closer to the middleweight limit than the 9st feather. He pays occasional visits to his gym in Sheffield but there is no sign of a comeback, no opponents in the air and the popular belief in the boxing world is that Prince Naseem Hamed will never be seen in the professional ring again.

He is 30 early next month and his inactivity has put him out of the minds of promoters, television and the lucrative paymasters of HBO, the American pay-per-view network who signed him up with fanfares and billboards all over New York before his fight with Kevin Kelley at Madison Square Garden in December, 1997. It seems the prince has abdicated before his coronation is complete because there is little sign of him wanting to get back on top of the world.

The downturn since the Barrera fight has been alarming and his former trainer and original mentor, Brendan Ingle, said: "There is as much chance of Naz getting back in the ring as there is of him walking on the sun."

Ingle may be quietly axe-grinding because there are many who believe that Hamed has never been quite the same since the pair split in 1998. Where do we go to discover the current status of Hamed, the Yorkshire Yemeni, who used to excite us with his impish quips and unique fighting style?

In recent years his brother, Riath, who has always been in the background, has managed him. Will Naz fight again, I asked him?

Evasion clearly runs in the family. He replied: "We get a lot of speculation. He is looking at fighting. He is not retiring yet. The question of when he is going to come back is what everyone keeps asking. He is training but he hasn't given me a date so I am waiting to hear from him to tell me. He's got a couple of trainers and he is testing a couple of trainers as well."

Interesting. Who are they? "We don't want to say any more than that to be honest with you."

How long might it take for him to be back boxing? "We don't want to speculate because when we do we always seem to get it wrong. I have left it to him to tell me when he is ready."

But is there a chance he might not fight again? "I would not say there is a possibility of him not fighting again. I feel confident that he is going to come back and fight. I am not going to say that he's not coming back because that would not be telling the truth and he does tell the truth."

What about his weight? "Everybody says they have seen him and he's put on weight but a lot of people have said that about a lot of fighters. I saw Ricky Hatton a couple of months ago and had to ask if it was him. Then I saw Michael Brodie and I said 'no way is that Michael Brodie'. That's how they are. They put on weight and take it off. It's as simple as that."

Why has he been so inactive? Riath laughs, and says: "The reasons why he has been inactive are reasons which he has justified to himself. We don't want to disclose anything apart from that."

The Prince of Mystery was such an open, entertaining fighter when he started, having been groomed by Ingle at his Wincobank gym. He was box-office value at 21 with his hands down, athletic movement and waspish, fast fists. He humiliated world-class fighters such as Vincenzo Belcastro and Freddy Cruz on his way up. When he trained he imagined he was Muhammad Ali or Sugar Ray Robinson. He was set to go all the way.

He added the spices of controversy and shock as the American television moguls began to look at this entertaining but skilful upstart. The controversy came in 1995 when he mercilessly taunted and ritually destroyed Steve Robinson, who was fighting in front of his home crowd in Cardiff before the referee called an eighth-round stoppage.

There was shock when Kelley knocked him down more than once before Hamed, who carried a ferocious punch for a little man, knocked him out. Hamed moved on, switched away from Ingle and his sons, John and Dominic, and went into the Barrera fight with Oscar Suarez in his corner along with Lennox Lewis's trainer, Manny Steward, as advisor.

Hamed had lost his sharpness. He was bemused by Barrera's ability to beat him to the punch almost every time. The unanimous verdict in the Mexican's favour was a formality. Thirteen months later, Hamed's defeat of Calvo brought booing at the London Arena.

Prince Naseem Hamed is a wealthy, married man with a family. He may be training but he has been out of the ring for more than 18 months and the feeling that he will not come back is profound.

stujones · Post by **stujones** » 18 Jan 2004, 09:13

Its over..... He couldn't hack the set back.

adamiw · Post by **adamiw** » 18 Jan 2004, 09:41

sounds like there's a small possibility that he may be returning, first quotes from the Naz camp for a while.

shakermaker · Post by **shakermaker** » 18 Jan 2004, 09:44

waste of time....he blew it, he had the world at his feet, HBO on his side and he got lazy. I miss his fights and the buzz they generate but his post fight comments (Calvo) proved he lives up his own ass.

The_Power · Post by **The_Power** » 18 Jan 2004, 10:28

Fighters with mentalities like his, can never bounce back from defeats.

He should take the same sort of attitude like Marvin Hagler, then he would have made it to the top.

hitman_hatton1 · Post by **hitman_hatton1** » 18 Jan 2004, 17:23

adamiw wrote:sounds like there's a small possibility that he may be returning, first quotes from the Naz camp for a while.

yeah maybe naz just wants some time off nothing wrong with that. the annoying thing is why can't they just release a statement and tell us, instead of all this silence

something is better than nothing

i was reading that urging the interviewer to just ask riath "why no statement"

hitman_hatton1 · Post by **hitman_hatton1** » 18 Jan 2004, 17:29

shakermaker wrote:waste of time....he blew it, he had the world at his feet, HBO on his side and he got lazy. I miss his fights and the buzz they generate but his post fight comments (Calvo) proved he lives up his own ass.

he was gr8 in the early days he had star power and not many boxers have that

inactivity spoiled him, a fighter like him needed to be active and keep sharp but he let himself go inbetween fights and his body slowing down. :x

his attitude after the calvo fight was pathetic he was like a cocky teenager

adamiw · Post by **adamiw** » 18 Jan 2004, 18:54

hitman_hatton1 wrote:
adamiw wrote:sounds like there's a small possibility that he may be returning, first quotes from the Naz camp for a while.
yeah maybe naz just wants some time off nothing wrong with that. the annoying thing is why can't they just release a statement and tell us, instead of all this silence something is better than nothing

i was reading that urging the interviewer to just ask riath "why no statement"

yeah a press conference or interview on ringside or something would be best. Just want to hear what he has to say. I know we have to take what his brother says with a pinch of salt, but i kind of believe him about the trainers. Been rumours about all sorts of guys from Alton Merkerson to Herol Graham.

hitman_hatton1 · Post by **hitman_hatton1** » 18 Jan 2004, 19:35

yeah he should go with herol graham

herol deserves a big name fighter and a challenge.

herol was the best and unluckiest brit to never win a world title and has never had any1 decent as a trainer that i know of

steve689 · Post by **steve689** » 18 Jan 2004, 19:44

Who cares, he is long gone as far as i am concerned. He beat the second level of opposition but failed at the first hurdle of the elite. He made enough cash to retire for definate, i would stay out of the ring if i was him.

knockout artist · Post by **knockout artist** » 19 Jan 2004, 04:34

steve689 wrote:Who cares, he is long gone as far as i am concerned. He beat the second level of opposition but failed at the first hurdle of the elite. He made enough cash to retire for definate, i would stay out of the ring if i was him.

Thats right.

Great fighters come back from adversity.

Hamed didnt.

Great puncher? Yes.

Great Fighter? No.

Stay retired.

Goz · Post by **Goz** » 19 Jan 2004, 05:51

Tis a shame. All the same he gave us some great nights and for that I thank him.

During the nineties I often worried about what would happen when Lewis and Hamed, the 2 flag bearers of British boxing stood down. What I am pleased about is that I needn't have worried.

Whilst I can't see where our next P4P ranked fighter is coming from (with all due respect to Ricky Hatton even if he beat Tszyu he would still have these perceived vunerabilities that will stop him cracking anybodys P4P top 10) we are getting plenty of boxing on TV which I think is the biggest indicator of the sports health.

However is this just the legacy of Hamed and Lewis?

Because of the viewing figures generated by the aforementioned pair are we now seeing money invested into the sport in the short term only?

If Hatton-Calzaghe-Harrison fail to deliver will we see the investment slowly start to withdraw?

Am I prattling on?

Should I have raised this on another thread?

Shall I just go away?

nasty · Post by **nasty** » 19 Jan 2004, 14:04

Maybe Hamed will come back at 10stone?

It'd be great to see a Hamed vs Ricky Hatton

Man, that'd be a MEGA FIGHT if I've ever seen one!

Does anyone agree with me.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2004 WILL BE THE YEAR OF MIKE TYSON
http://www.doghouseboxing.com/Parodies/Mike_Tyson.html
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HELP SAVE AMERICA FROM G.W.BUSH AND THE ZIONIST'S
VOTE GOV. HOWARD DEAN FOR PRESIDENT IN 2004
http://www.deanforamerica.com
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knockout artist · Post by **knockout artist** » 19 Jan 2004, 14:29

Now theres an idea!

bennie · Post by **bennie** » 19 Jan 2004, 14:30

Well, Naz must be old enough now to fall into the category of a Hatton opponent.

bennie · Post by **bennie** » 19 Jan 2004, 14:31

On that note, it would be interesting to find out when Hatton last fought a younger man.

steve689 · Post by **steve689** » 19 Jan 2004, 15:11

bennie wrote:On that note, it would be interesting to find out when Hatton last fought a younger man.

Lol...and congrats on post number 2000 Bennie, looks like you have stolen my trick of locking test monkeys in the attic constantly posting nonsense 24 hours a day 8)

bennie · Post by **bennie** » 19 Jan 2004, 15:15

steve689 wrote:
bennie wrote:On that note, it would be interesting to find out when Hatton last fought a younger man.
Lol...and congrats on post number 2000 Bennie, looks like you have stolen my trick of locking test monkeys in the attic constantly posting nonsense 24 hours a day 8)

Thank you.

Biff · Post by **Biff** » 20 Jan 2004, 06:17

Naz is too old for the lower weights now, look what happened Barrera and he is younger!!!

Naz is finished, and what a good decision, he is not mangled up or all brain damaged.
He has made money , won a load of titles,what else is there, keep doing it?????
Theres no point in having all that money and family etc etc if you are a cabbage.
And maybe he has just had enough, stays away from boxing, and probably has no idea that silly statements and posts like this are going around, and why care???
I've read before that hes a cruisrweight etc etc
All bullsh1t propaganda, from boxing fans that need a good fighter back due to the fact that the business stinks these days.

TerribleTerry · Post by **TerribleTerry** » 20 Jan 2004, 06:41

nasty wrote:Maybe Hamed will come back at 10stone?

It'd be great to see a Hamed vs Ricky Hatton

Man, that'd be a MEGA FIGHT if I've ever seen one!

Does anyone agree with me.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2004 WILL BE THE YEAR OF MIKE TYSON
http://www.doghouseboxing.com/Parodies/Mike_Tyson.html
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HELP SAVE AMERICA FROM G.W.BUSH AND THE ZIONIST'S
VOTE GOV. HOWARD DEAN FOR PRESIDENT IN 2004
http://www.deanforamerica.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A 5ft 3in Light Welter? Nasty - I can tell you are a septic without having to look at your signature. Awful suggestion.