BoxRec

I don't know why people are saying Naz should stay in retirement and not come back. As much as I always wanted him to lose, I still made sure I watched him every time he fought. I would love for him to come back and really think his return would be great for British boxing.

I would love him to come back and fight Morales, Pacquiao, JMM, Barrera and even Chi.

Prime Naz against the Pacman would be awesome.

In answer to your question. No.

boxingdvduk wrote:Prime Naz against the Pacman would be awesome.

Probably the only fighter I would tip a Prime Hamed to beat, styles make fights and the fact Pacquiao can get hurt by lesser punchers and the fact he is not difficult to hit means I would have tipped Hamed.

All the rest though - I can only see one winner.

Agreed. Pacmans style would be perfect for Naz. It would be a huge fight, even on PPV, possibly the biggest in history at the weight.

Pac will slaughter Naz if he comes back. All the talk of the Hamed comeback to me suggests that if it does happen he'll be taking some far less taxing fights abroad - similar to what Eubank did.

Naz should forget about it - he has been in terrible shape for a while he'll never get anywhere near his peak again.

Does anybody have a link to any recent photos of him?

It would be great if he came back and took the sport seriously, but that's not likely. So I don't really care what he does.

It would be great if he came back, and took the sport seriously. But that's not likely, so I don't really care what he does.

No. He would never be the same fighter, and as he doesn't need the money or have the desire, what's the point.

I've got a copy of the documentary on sky a few years back which was "5 years at the top".
It features all his title fights from the one sided beating he dished robinson to the thriller with Sanchez. Virtually every fight was exiting and I too never missed a fight and it was a real occasion when he fought.

Alas by the time he reached Barrera all the desire had gone, not to mention his slowed reflexes which meant his time had passed.

I cannot see how he could come back at the age of 30 and challenge a division which is much stronger than when he was champ...

If he did manage to get down to anywhere near 126 he would probably get taken apart quite easily bu any of the names mentioned.

Absolutely. Hamed needs bringing down to earth in the way that only being laid flat out can produce.

stujones wrote:

boxingdvduk wrote:Prime Naz against the Pacman would be awesome.

Probably the only fighter I would tip a Prime Hamed to beat, styles make fights and the fact Pacquiao can get hurt by lesser punchers and the fact he is not difficult to hit means I would have tipped Hamed.

All the rest though - I can only see one winner.

Even Chi? I'd back a prime Naz to beat him, the rest I don't know I certainly think if he'd trained better he'd have given a much better account of himself against Barrera.

spli_decision wrote:

stujones wrote:I would love him to come back and fight Morales, Pacquiao, JMM, Barrera and even Chi.

Sadist

What did Naz ever do to you??

Disrepected a personal hero and a national icon (Robinson). Great performance, but the things he said before and during the fight were not called for.

Disrepected a personal hero and another icon (McGuigan) - I think it was around the time of the McCullough fight when he was coming up with some shit. Lets not forget, it was McGuigan who often defended him on national TV by saying "he's not like this outside of the limelight".

Lied when he said he would show his "heart of a lion and come back better" after his defeat.

The documentary of him taking the piss out of Barrera training regime also showed his colours.

Great for him, as he made me buy every PPV - but it was to watch him lose.

Good fighter as he was, he was very much the David Beckham of Boxing at the time. There were many better fighters earning a lot less than him and that does grind me a little. He fought some good guys, but he also fought some unworthy guys (in another thread) and he earned millions fighting them. Sure all champions have their undeserving challenger, but when Hamed stepped up to fight an A grade fight in his peak he was exposed.

J-C wrote:

stujones wrote:

boxingdvduk wrote:Prime Naz against the Pacman would be awesome.

Probably the only fighter I would tip a Prime Hamed to beat, styles make fights and the fact Pacquiao can get hurt by lesser punchers and the fact he is not difficult to hit means I would have tipped Hamed.

All the rest though - I can only see one winner.

Even Chi? I'd back a prime Naz to beat him, the rest I don't know I certainly think if he'd trained better he'd have given a much better account of himself against Barrera.

I think Chi had the chin to take Hamed shots and had the workrate to out work Hamed. Chi is very similar, but better in every department, to Cesar Soto who gave Hamed perhaps his most difficult contest apart from Barrera.

I think Chi would do what Barrera promised he would do in the rematch and thats take it to Hamed and throw many punches.

Chi's come forward style would have played into Hamed's hands, and he is a pretty crude fighter. I think Soto was probably better technically than chi.

Chi is a little underrated though, I'm astonished at how many people think Harrison would just walk through him, because Harrison isn't a massive puncher. brodie even went to the body, which is the smart thing to do against Chi, and practically punched himself out every round in which he did so, later in the 1st fight, Chi came roaring back and really gave brodie hell with his relentless swarming style. Chi's two great assets, his chin and his remarkable workrate pretty much make up for his lack of finesse.

Chi isn't slick, but the punches just keep on coming, if Morales couldn't dent him, then I don't think Hamed would have stopped him either, but I think he was harder to hit than Morales in his prime, and would have won a decision.

boxingdvduk wrote:I don't know why people are saying Naz should stay in retirement and not come back. As much as I always wanted him to lose, I still made sure I watched him every time he fought. I would love for him to come back and really think his return would be great for British boxing.

No, I don't want him to come back.

I also disagree totally that a return would be a great thing for British boxing. If he comes back, and that's a big if, he won't be anywhere near the fighter he once was. It's now over seven years since he was in his prime. Seven years. Near the end he was badly on the slide, how can he now reverse that? Naz is now old for a smaller fighter, has been carrying a couple of extra stones in weight for a couple of years, doesn't have the desire that he once had, and the invincible aura that he once had has also departed.

If he was to come back, it'll go one of two ways. He go up against fighters who are so bad that he'll still be able to knock them over. Or, he'll try to make a serious go of it, and suffer losses, potentially bad ones, to fighters that wouldn't have even touched him in the late '90's. In short, it'd either be a comeback for novelty value only, or he'll ruin what might turn out to be widely acknowledged decent record.

Short term, it might attract more interest in the sport (after all, he's a big name), but he could never resist playing the fool, and will almost certainly offend people before departing again. I don't think that the sport needs someone so potentially distasteful, following a sham career fighting against a bunch of no-hopers. IMO, a Hamed comeback could paint boxing in entirely the wrong light.

Who cares? Rumours of his comeback come round every few weeks.......

it will be very sad if it does happen.

People walking away from the sport with their money happens all to rarely ( Hagler, Lewis er..... perhaps Marciano ) so I hope he just enjoys his cash and his family

I think he would have been a handful for any of the top boys at his best and would have stood a chance of beating any of them

now, he is ( by all accounts) well over weight and you may be able to shed the pounds but you can't shed the lethargy that goes with it.

I saw a nearly every fight and a good chunk of them live and was a fan. But, i think to come back after all this time would be hubris of the first water

Slapsie