BoxRec

stumbled across this by accident the other day and before you knew it I'd watched an hour of it......mainly because El Cocky One kept Barrera (not to mention the thousands there in attendance and the millions watching around the world) waiting for thirty minutes to fight......then he's been given licence to make special speeches about religion right before the fight - which I have not seen anybody ever do before or since, then he gets beat.....I'm only up to round 5 so far cos the fight doesn't actually start til about an hour in.....Barrera was the wrong guy to play games with, what a Boxer and a pro...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKlEpPZq4GQ

NorthEastBoxingFan wrote:stumbled across this by accident the other day and before you knew it I'd watched an hour of it......mainly because El Cocky One kept Barrera (not to mention the thousands there in attendance and the millions watching around the world) waiting for thirty minutes to fight......then he's been given licence to make special speeches about religion right before the fight - which I have not seen anybody ever do before or since, then he gets beat.....I'm only up to round 5 so far cos the fight doesn't actually start til about an hour in.....Barrera was the wrong guy to play games with, what a Boxer and a pro...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKlEpPZq4GQ

Didn't help that Naz didn't bother to train for the fight, either.

I'd love to have Naseem around today, he was effing brilliant. I still say he's the greatest PFP UK fighter of all time.

I take it you've made it to the end of the fight and I won't spoil it for you.
There's a C4 film called something like "the little prince", quite amazing that Hamed's team let it out there. Hamed & team- ego running wild, loving the adventure, losing sight of what matters.
Barrera's face is a picture when he's in the ring and sees Naz not wearing gloves yet.
What a badass Barrera was, Mr. Take-No-Shit. When since then have we seen a fighter marched to the corner to have his face smashed off the post? Jeez, the noble art!
Naz was impressive during his post-fight interview. He took it unbelievably well after what must have been a real come-down.

pablothunder wrote:I take it you've made it to the end of the fight and I won't spoil it for you.
There's a C4 film called something like "the little prince", quite amazing that Hamed's team let it out there. Hamed & team- ego running wild, loving the adventure, losing sight of what matters.
Barrera's face is a picture when he's in the ring and sees Naz not wearing gloves yet.
What a badass Barrera was, Mr. Take-No-Shit. When since then have we seen a fighter marched to the corner to have his face smashed off the post? Jeez, the noble art!
Naz was impressive during his post-fight interview. He took it unbelievably well after what must have been a real come-down.

I knew what the result was altho I never saw the fight at the time so for me that was the first time I've seen it. Lots of stuff I like in that video, in and out the ring. Thought RJJ did a good turn in the studio....also Foreman at the end kind of turned on the commentator Lampley(?) when Lampley said he didn' think Barrera liked Hamed, Foreman turned round and said "I don't think you like him cos you've said bad things about him all night..." something like that, that came out the blue.
Naz manages to sound cocky even when he was being magnanimous at the end and the way he kind of grinned at opponents had a touch of the "bully" about it for me, although in this fight it was because he was getting schooled and didn't know what to do......I never really liked him as a person but not getting into all that - I do say fair play to him though he still went 12 rounds and gave Barrera things to think about even on a bad night.
I didn't notice Barrera's face when he noticed Naseem didn't have gloves on yet....he showed some composure for sure.

Khaosai-Galaxy wrote:

NorthEastBoxingFan wrote:stumbled across this by accident the other day and before you knew it I'd watched an hour of it......mainly because El Cocky One kept Barrera (not to mention the thousands there in attendance and the millions watching around the world) waiting for thirty minutes to fight......then he's been given licence to make special speeches about religion right before the fight - which I have not seen anybody ever do before or since, then he gets beat.....I'm only up to round 5 so far cos the fight doesn't actually start til about an hour in.....Barrera was the wrong guy to play games with, what a Boxer and a pro...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKlEpPZq4GQ

Didn't help that Naz didn't bother to train for the fight, either.

I'd love to have Naseem around today, he was effing brilliant. I still say he's the greatest PFP UK fighter of all time.

good puncher. I watched that hoping that Barrera wasn't going to get dropped in the last round! I understand there's talk he wasn't in peak condition but I'm not convinced any version of him would beat a prime Barrera.
Why no rematch? When asked at the end if he wanted one he laughed and said he had a contract and he was getting one. Had he lost interest or did the defeat and also the nature of the defeat change his mind?

I was being magnanimous myself when I was going on about his interview.
He was gifted and exciting to watch, but at the time, I lapped up every second of Naz' demise, absolutely loved it. It was reward for the cockiness we were subjected to in the run up.
Barrera proved himself the unmovable one, the one whose quality wasn't in a bubble.
Hamed was mentally changed by what he went through with Barrera, he knew he'd lost to the better man and therefore, his bubble was burst, he wasn't the top man as he sincerely believed he was; he'd crossed the line from having faith in what he could do and believing his own hype.
Barrera was the business, I loved how he ditched the belts to become the people's champion. A class act.

pablothunder wrote:I was being magnanimous myself when I was going on about his interview.
He was gifted and exciting to watch, but at the time, I lapped up every second of Naz' demise, absolutely loved it. It was reward for the cockiness we were subjected to in the run up.
Barrera proved himself the unmovable one, the one whose quality wasn't in a bubble.
Hamed was mentally changed by what he went through with Barrera, he knew he'd lost to the better man and therefore, his bubble was burst, he wasn't the top man as he sincerely believed he was; he'd crossed the line from having faith in what he could do and believing his own hype.
Barrera was the business, I loved how he ditched the belts to become the people's champion. A class act.

Ditched the titles to become the people's champ

Hmmmmmm

I don't think Naz was affected by the Barrera fight 1 bit. He was already way past his best and beyond caring by then. He was a very rich man with a young family.

The Naz of 97/98 would have sussed out Barerra in 8 rounds.

NorthEastBoxingFan wrote:

Khaosai-Galaxy wrote:

NorthEastBoxingFan wrote:stumbled across this by accident the other day and before you knew it I'd watched an hour of it......mainly because El Cocky One kept Barrera (not to mention the thousands there in attendance and the millions watching around the world) waiting for thirty minutes to fight......then he's been given licence to make special speeches about religion right before the fight - which I have not seen anybody ever do before or since, then he gets beat.....I'm only up to round 5 so far cos the fight doesn't actually start til about an hour in.....Barrera was the wrong guy to play games with, what a Boxer and a pro...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKlEpPZq4GQ

Didn't help that Naz didn't bother to train for the fight, either.

I'd love to have Naseem around today, he was effing brilliant. I still say he's the greatest PFP UK fighter of all time.

good puncher. I watched that hoping that Barrera wasn't going to get dropped in the last round! I understand there's talk he wasn't in peak condition but I'm not convinced any version of him would beat a prime Barrera.
Why no rematch? When asked at the end if he wanted one he laughed and said he had a contract and he was getting one. Had he lost interest or did the defeat and also the nature of the defeat change his mind?

There may well have been a rematch at some later date if Al Qaeda hadnt crashed those planes into the world trade centre.

Loved naz right up until the build up for this fight, remember at the time being totally spooked by the religious ramblings at the start, the new style he used and his condition in general for the first time i actually wanted him to lose during the fight

A prime Naz would have stopped Any version of MAB

Khaosai-Galaxy wrote:

NorthEastBoxingFan wrote:stumbled across this by accident the other day and before you knew it I'd watched an hour of it......mainly because El Cocky One kept Barrera (not to mention the thousands there in attendance and the millions watching around the world) waiting for thirty minutes to fight......then he's been given licence to make special speeches about religion right before the fight - which I have not seen anybody ever do before or since, then he gets beat.....I'm only up to round 5 so far cos the fight doesn't actually start til about an hour in.....Barrera was the wrong guy to play games with, what a Boxer and a pro...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKlEpPZq4GQ

Didn't help that Naz didn't bother to train for the fight, either.

I'd love to have Naseem around today, he was effing brilliant. I still say he's the greatest PFP UK fighter of all time.

Not even top ten, hand picked opponents at the right time by his promotional team. As soon as he fought a proper pfp top fighter he got found out. Entertaining certainly but over-rated.

gazza8 wrote:
A prime Naz would have stopped Any version of MAB

Not even close. Marco was just too good.

Craigyid14 wrote:

Khaosai-Galaxy wrote:

NorthEastBoxingFan wrote:stumbled across this by accident the other day and before you knew it I'd watched an hour of it......mainly because El Cocky One kept Barrera (not to mention the thousands there in attendance and the millions watching around the world) waiting for thirty minutes to fight......then he's been given licence to make special speeches about religion right before the fight - which I have not seen anybody ever do before or since, then he gets beat.....I'm only up to round 5 so far cos the fight doesn't actually start til about an hour in.....Barrera was the wrong guy to play games with, what a Boxer and a pro...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKlEpPZq4GQ

Didn't help that Naz didn't bother to train for the fight, either.

I'd love to have Naseem around today, he was effing brilliant. I still say he's the greatest PFP UK fighter of all time.

Not even top ten, hand picked opponents at the right time by his promotional team. As soon as he fought a proper pfp top fighter he got found out. Entertaining certainly but over-rated.

What we mean is that the version of Naz up until he won the world title was far more formidable than the version than Barrera faced. Check out his fight with Steve Robinson to get an idea. He trained 3 times a day then and was fully focused and motivated. Incredible reflexes and power off the charts at his peak.

I loved watching Naz and had all of VHS videos, he was a great ambassador for boxing - because even casual sports fans, when sat in front of a Naz fight or two, were converted to boxing in an instant, and for that reason we should all be really grateful for Naz's brief career.

With regards pure boxing though (and not the glitzy entertainment) - A solid, well rounded Marco Antonio Barrera on his A-game was always going to beat Naz, whichever version turned up.

Sure Naz could punch but he landed a few good shots and Barrera took them well.

Barrera just didn't give a f**k about the sideshow, he just drilled himself into condition in the sparsest of gyms he could find, working on the basics like a proper Mexican warrior that he is.

People talk like it was an upset, and I always believed Barrera would beat Naz and took bet money off friends in the process.

- And the reason that documentary was given the green light, was to afford Naz with plenty of excuses for his defeat , and even to this day, people say "in his prime Naz this and Naz that" so it obviously fooled some.

A proper warrior comes back from defeat better than ever - wheras against Calvo he was booed out the ring and the audience got up and walked out the joint.

In closing, Naz made a huge impression on the sport - but it was not down to his achievements. His wins came over easy opponents who never really lit the sport up like a Marquez, Barrera, Morales etc of that era.

G0mez wrote:I loved watching Naz and had all of VHS videos, he was a great ambassador for boxing - because even casual sports fans, when sat in front of a Naz fight or two, were converted to boxing in an instant, and for that reason we should all be really grateful for Naz's brief career.

With regards pure boxing though (and not the glitzy entertainment) - A solid, well rounded Marco Antonio Barrera on his A-game was always going to beat Naz, whichever version turned up.

Sure Naz could punch but he landed a few good shots and Barrera took them well.

Barrera just didn't give a f**k about the sideshow, he just drilled himself into condition in the sparsest of gyms he could find, working on the basics like a proper Mexican warrior that he is.

People talk like it was an upset, and I always believed Barrera would beat Naz and took bet money off friends in the process.

- And the reason that documentary was given the green light, was to afford Naz with plenty of excuses for his defeat , and even to this day, people say "in his prime Naz this and Naz that" so it obviously fooled some.

A proper warrior comes back from defeat better than ever - wheras against Calvo he was booed out the ring and the audience got up and walked out the joint.

In closing, Naz made a huge impression on the sport - but it was not down to his achievements. His wins came over easy opponents who never really lit the sport up like a Marquez, Barrera, Morales etc of that era.

But surely Gomez, you have to acknowledge that wasn't Hamed at the peak of his powers vs Barrera? I mean even just physically, looking at him vs Robinson he was a little ball of muscle. Against Barrera he looked soft. Or did Hamed purposely aim to look soft to "fool" my eyes?

G0mez wrote:I loved watching Naz and had all of VHS videos, he was a great ambassador for boxing - because even casual sports fans, when sat in front of a Naz fight or two, were converted to boxing in an instant, and for that reason we should all be really grateful for Naz's brief career.

With regards pure boxing though (and not the glitzy entertainment) - A solid, well rounded Marco Antonio Barrera on his A-game was always going to beat Naz, whichever version turned up.

Sure Naz could punch but he landed a few good shots and Barrera took them well.

Barrera just didn't give a f**k about the sideshow, he just drilled himself into condition in the sparsest of gyms he could find, working on the basics like a proper Mexican warrior that he is.

People talk like it was an upset, and I always believed Barrera would beat Naz and took bet money off friends in the process.

- And the reason that documentary was given the green light, was to afford Naz with plenty of excuses for his defeat , and even to this day, people say "in his prime Naz this and Naz that" so it obviously fooled some.

A proper warrior comes back from defeat better than ever - wheras against Calvo he was booed out the ring and the audience got up and walked out the joint.

In closing, Naz made a huge impression on the sport - but it was not down to his achievements. His wins came over easy opponents who never really lit the sport up like a Marquez, Barrera, Morales etc of that era.

You paint a very romantic picture of these Mexican warriors, sleeping on the gym floor, shunning the limelight, fighting for tacos in dusty bull rings etc

Which is lovely and all, but utter tosh.

Barrera and Morales were huge media stars in Mexico, always on TV trying to do cross over promotions.
In one of their fights Morales was accompanied to the ring by Vampiro and Barrera was on Wrestling TV shows doing all sorts of goofy crap.

Also, they are all very rich men who have fought exclusively in the US, rather than Mexico and a lot of Mexican boxing fans think they are total sell outs, perusing the Yankee dollar.

Khaosai-Galaxy wrote:

You paint a very romantic picture of these Mexican warriors, sleeping on the gym floor, shunning the limelight, fighting for tacos in dusty bull rings etc

Which is lovely and all, but utter tosh.

Barrera and Morales were huge media stars in Mexico, always on TV trying to do cross over promotions.
In one of their fights Morales was accompanied to the ring by Vampiro and Barrera was on Wrestling TV shows doing all sorts of goofy crap.

Also, they are all very rich men who have fought exclusively in the US, rather than Mexico and a lot of Mexican boxing fans think they are total sell outs, perusing the Yankee dollar.

Did you like it? here's another one.

I met Barrera a few times at shows, always a top guy. Once would you believe I missed him by a couple of days on a cruise ship (Royal Caribbean Independence of the Seas) and apparently he and his family would go into this salsa bar on the ship after dinner.

As you might know, a lot of the staff are Filipino and the two bar staff in this particular bar went to great lengths to have fun with Barrera, one night wearing Manny Pacquiao masks, and underneath their uniforms had Pac t-shirts on, as he walked in with a big grin on his face.

He and his wife spent all night in there, most nights of their holiday and had loads of pictures with them all.

G0mez wrote:

Khaosai-Galaxy wrote:

You paint a very romantic picture of these Mexican warriors, sleeping on the gym floor, shunning the limelight, fighting for tacos in dusty bull rings etc

Which is lovely and all, but utter tosh.

Barrera and Morales were huge media stars in Mexico, always on TV trying to do cross over promotions.
In one of their fights Morales was accompanied to the ring by Vampiro and Barrera was on Wrestling TV shows doing all sorts of goofy crap.

Also, they are all very rich men who have fought exclusively in the US, rather than Mexico and a lot of Mexican boxing fans think they are total sell outs, perusing the Yankee dollar.

Did you like it? here's another one.

I met Barrera a few times at shows, always a top guy. Once would you believe I missed him by a couple of days on a cruise ship (Royal Caribbean Independence of the Seas) and apparently he and his family would go into this salsa bar on the ship after dinner.

As you might know, a lot of the staff are Filipino and the two bar staff in this particular bar went to great lengths to have fun with Barrera, one night wearing Manny Pacquiao masks, and underneath their uniforms had Pac t-shirts on, as he walked in with a big grin on his face.

He and his wife spent all night in there, most nights of their holiday and had loads of pictures with them all.

Yes, i can easily imagine Barrera being much more fun on a holiday cruise than Naseem Hamed.

You have got me there.

Khaosai-Galaxy wrote:

G0mez wrote:I loved watching Naz and had all of VHS videos, he was a great ambassador for boxing - because even casual sports fans, when sat in front of a Naz fight or two, were converted to boxing in an instant, and for that reason we should all be really grateful for Naz's brief career.

With regards pure boxing though (and not the glitzy entertainment) - A solid, well rounded Marco Antonio Barrera on his A-game was always going to beat Naz, whichever version turned up.

Sure Naz could punch but he landed a few good shots and Barrera took them well.

Barrera just didn't give a f**k about the sideshow, he just drilled himself into condition in the sparsest of gyms he could find, working on the basics like a proper Mexican warrior that he is.

People talk like it was an upset, and I always believed Barrera would beat Naz and took bet money off friends in the process.

- And the reason that documentary was given the green light, was to afford Naz with plenty of excuses for his defeat , and even to this day, people say "in his prime Naz this and Naz that" so it obviously fooled some.

A proper warrior comes back from defeat better than ever - wheras against Calvo he was booed out the ring and the audience got up and walked out the joint.

In closing, Naz made a huge impression on the sport - but it was not down to his achievements. His wins came over easy opponents who never really lit the sport up like a Marquez, Barrera, Morales etc of that era.

You paint a very romantic picture of these Mexican warriors, sleeping on the gym floor, shunning the limelight, fighting for tacos in dusty bull rings etc

Which is lovely and all, but utter tosh.

Barrera and Morales were huge media stars in Mexico, always on TV trying to do cross over promotions.
In one of their fights Morales was accompanied to the ring by Vampiro and Barrera was on Wrestling TV shows doing all sorts of goofy crap.

Also, they are all very rich men who have fought exclusively in the US, rather than Mexico and a lot of Mexican boxing fans think they are total sell outs, perusing the Yankee dollar.

The point is though, that no matter what glamour surrounded them, they never let it compromise their training or undermine their dedication to the fight game. They were fighters through and through.

Khaosai-Galaxy wrote:

Yes, i can easily imagine Barrera being much more fun on a holiday cruise than Naseem Hamed.

You have got me there.

Naz is probably good fun in the swimming pool though. You can bounce on his belly and laugh at his crack at the back of his Bermuda shorts.

And not forgetting it's "all you can eat" too.

The full Doc little prince big fight http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fL7JNQg5eU0

The 1bangkid wrote:The full Doc little prince big fight http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fL7JNQg5eU0

watch that later, cheers

The Insider wrote:

gazza8 wrote:
A prime Naz would have stopped Any version of MAB

Not even close. Marco was just too good.

Love Naz but have to agree no chance Barrera all day.

I think that his heart had given up around the time of this fight and that if Naz is 100% honest with himself he would love to rewind the clock many times. Would he change anything about his career .... he will say not a thing, but I believe in all honesty there are a couple of things he would do differently on another given day . he is human after all

I loved watching Naz, still do on the re runs ............... I didn't realize what a freak show of brilliance he was until it was all over so I wish I could have my Naz time all over again, for sure P4P UK No 1

A fun thread would be how many British fighters tried to copy his style and failed miserably. Whatever you say about him there's no denying he was a unique talent. And regardless of Barrera getting one over on him when he was ready to pack it in, it's not like he ever ended up in a heap.

And I would add that no other fighter featherweight in his generation could have blown through his opponents with such power punching displays. Even Morales had life and death with McCullough. Barrera was often safety-first. Neither could have matched those peak performances of Naz.

used to love watching his fights. he had talent, and speed, and arrogance in abundance, but he obviously lacked discipline and judgement. sometimes these qualities are the difference between an excellent fighter and a great one. hamed thought he knew it all and only found out he didnt when it was too late.

cant really criticise him for that though, its what most young men go through in one way or anothr.