Hamed was NEARLY defeated two years before Barrera...
Posted: 10 Oct 2006, 17:15
Remember his fight with Cesar Soto in '99? The Mexican was a lot taller, had a ironclad chin, and hit pretty hard. Here's how I scored the first four rounds - and I'd like to stress that Hamed's speed and workrate fell off a cliff after this round:
Round 1 - Hamed
Round 2 - Soto
Round 3 - Hamed
Round 4 - Soto.
Up until that time, NOBODY had been level pegging with Hamed going into the 5th. Hamed's team knew they were looking down the barrel of defeat, as Hamed's handspeed and workrate would begin dropping much faster than Soto's. And it would almost certainly go to a decision, given Soto's chin was every bit as good (back then) as Mcullough before him...a decision the Hamed camp would lose.
So, what did they do? I put it to you they instructed Hamed to bodyslam Soto. I put it to you that it was NOT an act of revenge for Soto's own dirty tactics, which they were aware would be a feature of the evening, and thus serve as a nice, convenient smokescreen, no, rather it was a brilliantly crafted psychological warfare maneouvre. I put it to you that they KNEW the ref would not dare halt a multi-million dolllar fight over this incident, probably ending his career too.
The injustice of Hamed not being DQ'ed SHOOK Soto. "But there are rules against this sort of thing, how can this happen to me?!!?" I'm sure his latin sense of justice was thinking. That certainly took much of the fight out of him mentally...that bodyslam was a shattering blow to his faith in 'the system'. The ref had just screwed him, and so would the judges. You could see on his face that he'd lost faith, interest and hope.
I contend that Hamed, thanks to savvy foresight by his team, dodged a bullet that night; and THAT FIGHT, my friends, was what Barrera used as the blueprint to beat Hamed 2 years later; none of the guys who brawled Hamed had ever come close to knocking him down for a convincing time. No, the way to do it was to outbox him...Mcullough himself could have done it if he'd had half a brain, walking down Hamed instead of allowing him to dart in every 60 seconds and run back out and hide for a minute.
Soto took it one step further, literally, by walking forward when Hamed ran. Barrera, being much smarter still than either of those two, was the man who could refine their plans and execute - elbows sewn tight, guard high, rotate away from Hamed's primary weapon (left hand), use the differing armspans to maintain a 2" theatre of operations in which to jab without being jabbed in return, counter FCUCKING hard when Hamed missed, and NEVER deviate from the plan, no matter what Hamed pulled.
But NOW you know where the plan originated.
Jaybee.
Round 1 - Hamed
Round 2 - Soto
Round 3 - Hamed
Round 4 - Soto.
Up until that time, NOBODY had been level pegging with Hamed going into the 5th. Hamed's team knew they were looking down the barrel of defeat, as Hamed's handspeed and workrate would begin dropping much faster than Soto's. And it would almost certainly go to a decision, given Soto's chin was every bit as good (back then) as Mcullough before him...a decision the Hamed camp would lose.
So, what did they do? I put it to you they instructed Hamed to bodyslam Soto. I put it to you that it was NOT an act of revenge for Soto's own dirty tactics, which they were aware would be a feature of the evening, and thus serve as a nice, convenient smokescreen, no, rather it was a brilliantly crafted psychological warfare maneouvre. I put it to you that they KNEW the ref would not dare halt a multi-million dolllar fight over this incident, probably ending his career too.
The injustice of Hamed not being DQ'ed SHOOK Soto. "But there are rules against this sort of thing, how can this happen to me?!!?" I'm sure his latin sense of justice was thinking. That certainly took much of the fight out of him mentally...that bodyslam was a shattering blow to his faith in 'the system'. The ref had just screwed him, and so would the judges. You could see on his face that he'd lost faith, interest and hope.
I contend that Hamed, thanks to savvy foresight by his team, dodged a bullet that night; and THAT FIGHT, my friends, was what Barrera used as the blueprint to beat Hamed 2 years later; none of the guys who brawled Hamed had ever come close to knocking him down for a convincing time. No, the way to do it was to outbox him...Mcullough himself could have done it if he'd had half a brain, walking down Hamed instead of allowing him to dart in every 60 seconds and run back out and hide for a minute.
Soto took it one step further, literally, by walking forward when Hamed ran. Barrera, being much smarter still than either of those two, was the man who could refine their plans and execute - elbows sewn tight, guard high, rotate away from Hamed's primary weapon (left hand), use the differing armspans to maintain a 2" theatre of operations in which to jab without being jabbed in return, counter FCUCKING hard when Hamed missed, and NEVER deviate from the plan, no matter what Hamed pulled.
But NOW you know where the plan originated.
Jaybee.
