Opinions on Prince Naseem Hamed

[sugarsean]

Just simply what is your opinion of Naseem Hamed e.g what did you think of his talent, entrances, where you rate him compared to the all time greats, etc

I personally think he had great potential but based on his performances from 1998 - 2002 he does'nt deserve to be mentioned with the greats, no chance. {and thats coming from a fan of his , I mean as a boxer and showman , not as a person because from what I've heard he was horrible}

and please keep this in the classic forum because I'd like to here your opinions.

[essexboy]

He's an ex-boxer so this probably does constitute classic. I really dont know how I'd rank him, hes a tough one. Unbelievably talented and absolutely dominated a division for quite a time. His loss to Barrera really knocks him back, he reminds me of Liston in a way, unstoppable for a while and a legend in the making then the mystique was utterly shattered in one fight. Hamed should have been a multi-weight world champion and should have at the very least attempted to avenge his loss against Barrera. He probabaly just misses out on being great for me.

[sugarsean]

He's an ex-boxer so this probably does constitute classic. I really dont know how I'd rank him, hes a tough one. Unbelievably talented and absolutely dominated a division for quite a time. His loss to Barrera really knocks him back, he reminds me of Liston in a way, unstoppable for a while and a legend in the making then the mystique was utterly shattered in one fight. Hamed should have been a multi-weight world champion and should have at the very least attempted to avenge his loss against Barrera. He probabaly just misses out on being great for me.

But it was'nt just the Barrera fight, he started looking ordinary from 98 onwards for me, I think a lot of it was to do with his split with Brendan Ingle he did'nt seem to be as good a fighter after they split in my opinion

[Bill1234]

He pisses me off with his cockeyness, showboating, and drawn out entrances.

[My2Sense]

Big puncher, but not much else. He had a total disregarded for even the most basic of boxing fundamentals, and he generally looked like shit even in fights that he won. Barrera made him look like a complete and utter clown, and he did that while fighting in a style that he wasn't even totally comfortable with.

[Tin_Ribs]

Big puncher, but not much else. He had a total disregarded for even the most basic of boxing fundamentals, and he generally looked like shit even in fights that he won. Barrera made him look like a complete and utter clown, and he did that while fighting in a style that he wasn't even totally comfortable with.

I agree to a certain extent: the Ingle style has often been exploited at the highest level and Hamed was no different. He went downhill rapidly after leaving the Wincobank gym but would still have lost sooner or later, even if he had remained primed and motivated.

Still, his unnatural power, speed and unorthodoxy would have made him a threat to anyone despite the glaring lack of fundamental skills. If you threw and missed, he'd decapitate you. The same can be said for many big hitters though. Overall, I find him a difficult fighter to rank.

Good job for him that he steered clear of Marquez though. That would have been a schooling, provided he didn't catch JMM cold.

[rekcutnevets]

Hamed was unique and exciting. Hamed had good power, and he displayed it in a way that was almost surreal. Hamed would have been a contender in any era, but his technical flaws keep him out of the elite. Barrera exploited his flaws, Morales and Marquez would have likely done the same.

I'm almost never offended by fighter's statements, and the only thing I'll say about Hamed's ring entrances are they were too long. Overall, I say my journey as a boxing fan is better with Hamed than without.

[mcvey]

Just simply what is your opinion of Naseem Hamed e.g what did you think of his talent, entrances, where you rate him compared to the all time greats, etc

I personally think he had great potential but based on his performances from 1998 - 2002 he does'nt deserve to be mentioned with the greats, no chance. {and thats coming from a fan of his , I mean as a boxer and showman , not as a person because from what I've heard he was horrible}

and please keep this in the classic forum because I'd like to here your opinions.

As a boxer . A fighter with excellent reflexes,and tremendous power for his weight.
Very flawed techique,often off balance ,poor defence ,relied allmost exclusively on his reactions to avoid shots,.A good but not great fighter who avoided some of his better contempories was schooled badly by the best fighter he faced,and had no appetite for a rematch.
As a man .A piece of shit.

[mrbassie]

There's a definite parallel with Tyson in that they both ditched their trainers and took up with people who didn't have a clue what they should be doing in the gym/how to train for their style and went downhill very quickly.
My main opinion of him, is that he's a cock. Ringside interviews at Khan fights do nothing to alleviate this.

[fists of fury]

One of the best amateur professionals I've seen.

[PowerPuncher]

Big puncher, but not much else. He had a total disregarded for even the most basic of boxing fundamentals, and he generally looked like shit even in fights that he won. Barrera made him look like a complete and utter clown, and he did that while fighting in a style that he wasn't even totally comfortable with.

How about counter puncher, excellent shot slipper, fast hands, excellent reactions, excellent jab, great timing, Hamed was allot more than just power. In his prime he was very hard to hit clean, but he just deteriated.

Hamed is like Tyson in that he had it all at a young age, only 21yo when he became a world champion and a multi-millionaire shortly after that. When you have it all at a young age many may take it for granted and stop training to fullfill their potential. This is clearly the case with both Hamed and Tyson.

Hamed still managed to clean out and unify all belts at featherweight. Then after having abandoned training, there's documentary footage of this, he took 3-4 rounds off MAB and had Barrera very respectful of his power, which says something, MAB certainly layed a bigger beating on Morales the year before when he was robbed. No shame in losing to MAB but the fleetfooted prime Hamed would have done far better

BTW he would have sparked Marquez and Morales as neither is too hard to hit, which would spell disaster

[Raging B(_)LL]

My opinion is that he was an annoying and arrogant little shitbird, that is all.

[Godfather]

Not a huge fan.

He had limited ability IMO and relied on his power far too much (proven by MAB).

His reflexes was the reason he got so far in boxing. Due to this his shelf life was always going to be short.

Against defensive technicians and top level counter punchers he would suffer badly

[WhataRock]

I liked him actually..and he was pretty good, not just a puncher but that was his only truly elite quality.

[Flea Man]

Surely one of if not the hardest FW hitter of all-time.

I'm a fan. He had a good chin and powers of recovery, and has a decent if not awe-inspiring resume. His loss to Barrera just cements how good Barrera was and how much Naz has declined. He didn't even have a punchers chance in that fight, awful performance coupled with a masterful one from Barrera.

Naz vs Danny Lopez is my favourite Fantasy matchup of all-time. Pretty much guaranteed a 1st round K.O in that one.

as a person Naz is a dick, but in the ring he was really entertaining, and as a boy one of my favourites.

[pare]

find it hard assessing him. from all accounts he was focused and training in his early 20s and he looked indestructible in his fights. but this was against slower 2nd tier champs like robinson and medina.
when he was starting to step up his competition, this also happened to be the time he stepped down in focus and training.
in "license to thrill" he talked barrera and morales, but particularly barrera with unusual respect. yet he doesn't train that hard for him. i read this (with the benefit of hindsight:good) as meaning he knew he'd get beaten.

[kidargentine]

Back then, I wasn't too big on Nas. His cockyness, and the fact that he seemed to be missing some fundamentals on boxing was off-putting. He did alot of boxing cardinal sins - bending his head back to avoid a power punch, ducking to the side, etc.

That said, he and Roy Jones Jr.were the most naturally gifted boxers of their time. He hits very hard, and his chin was solid - most of his knockdowns seemed to be balance issues. Also, his unorthodox style, while flawed, was very different - but it wasn't too long until it was figured out by the likes of Kevin Kelly, and later more successfully by Barrera.

Now with the years he's been away, I can honestly say I miss the guy, and hope someone like him comes along. He's not an ATG, and probably not even an Hall of famer, but he was at the top of the FW division for a good amount of time, and perhaps his true legacy is bringing some spotlight on the lighter guys that hasn't been seen before. BTW, I found the trash talking between he and Kelly to be freaking hilarious:

[Only registered and activated users can see links]/all/favorites-all/0/cQ69MyiNOe4

[El Cepillo]

Hamed was a phenomenon.

In my opinion, a great fighter that never actually proved his greatness.

His accomplishments were significant; three world titles, unifying the division, establishing lineage, youngest British World Champ ever etc.

Took on, and beat, good competition throughout his career (fought Belcastro for a European title in only his 11th fight).

His resume is packed with solid wins, over good/very opponents.

Overall, great for boxing, a plethora of highly entertaining fights, and a showman that brought a lot of people into the sport.

[The Wanderer]

Great talent, great power, great speed and movement.

Shitty balance, complete lack of fundamentals, not a lot of focus on the game.

I wasn't that impressed by Naz back in the day. The first time I saw him was the Medina fight and I thought there was something big there, so I kinda wanted to be impressed when he was being brought along by HBO and others, but he just left me cold. The ring entrances were overdone and too long for my taste, his in ring showmanship was often undermined by his poor balance so he would sometimes make what should have been really impressive feats look bad because he'd be slipping and falling everywhere, and when an aging Kevin Kelly made him fight for his life I figured it wouldn't be long before someone took him down.

Definitely a case of a guy who was given great tools but didn't fully utilize them, and his performances from about 98 onward really take away from the luster of his earlier career and show that he was going to fall apart except when kept on a tight leash by trainers and such.

So, a very good fighter overly reliant on natural talents who didn't develop them properlyl. Definitely not great.

[Rubber Warrior]

Undeniably, back in the day, "Ears" was one of my favorite fighters. His lack of conventional fundamentals, combined with his God-given athleticism and cocky nature made for pure ring entertainment. For me, it was always about "who and when" as it was clear that a solid, well-founded if less endowed technician would one day disrobe him. I'd say that he began to look more and more ordinary starting around 1998, as somebody mentioned earlier.

When I saw MAB disassemble Jesus Salud in 2000 and heard he was the next scheduled opponent for "Ears", I knew that the magic carpet ride was all but over. MAB had managed to regain his timing and confidence and the Salud match underlined it. Hamed was in no way capable of beating such a well-rounded fighter, save for some lucky punch.

[sugarsean]

How about counter puncher, excellent shot slipper, fast hands, excellent reactions, excellent jab, great timing, Hamed was allot more than just power. In his prime he was very hard to hit clean, but he just deteriated.

Hamed is like Tyson in that he had it all at a young age, only 21yo when he became a world champion and a multi-millionaire shortly after that. When you have it all at a young age many may take it for granted and stop training to fullfill their potential. This is clearly the case with both Hamed and Tyson.

Hamed still managed to clean out and unify all belts at featherweight. Then after having abandoned training, there's documentary footage of this, he took 3-4 rounds off MAB and had Barrera very respectful of his power, which says something, MAB certainly layed a bigger beating on Morales the year before when he was robbed. No shame in losing to MAB but the fleetfooted prime Hamed would have done far better

BTW he would have sparked Marquez and Morales as neither is too hard to hit, which would spell disaster

I disagree I think Morales would of beat the shit out of him and theres a good chance Marquez would of outboxed him. they proved themselfs against the elite class where as Hamed failed,

[young griffo]

There's a definite parallel with Tyson in that they both ditched their trainers and took up with people who didn't have a clue what they should be doing in the gym/how to train for their style and went downhill very quickly.
My main opinion of him, is that he's a cock. Ringside interviews at Khan fights do nothing to alleviate this.
That's quite a long bow you draw comparing Tyson ditching Rooney for pills like Aaron Snowell and Jay Bright with Hamed ditching Brendan Ingle for HOF trainer Manny Steward.

For what it's worth I think Hamed could've had Steward,Futch,Blackburn and Benton in his corner at the end and it wouldn't have made a jot of difference. Hamed had fallen in love with scoring one punch KO's and couldn't/wouldn't use his natural speed,elusiveness and angles (not to mention patience) to wait and set them up anymore.

Plus he was an arrogant creep who thought that the rules of boxing didn't apply to him and refused to listen to anyone except his suckhole friends and family.

[bodhi]

How about counter puncher, excellent shot slipper, fast hands, excellent reactions, excellent jab, great timing, Hamed was allot more than just power. In his prime he was very hard to hit clean, but he just deteriated.

Hamed is like Tyson in that he had it all at a young age, only 21yo when he became a world champion and a multi-millionaire shortly after that. When you have it all at a young age many may take it for granted and stop training to fullfill their potential. This is clearly the case with both Hamed and Tyson.

Hamed still managed to clean out and unify all belts at featherweight. Then after having abandoned training, there's documentary footage of this, he took 3-4 rounds off MAB and had Barrera very respectful of his power, which says something, MAB certainly layed a bigger beating on Morales the year before when he was robbed. No shame in losing to MAB but the fleetfooted prime Hamed would have done far better

BTW he would have sparked Marquez and Morales as neither is too hard to hit, which would spell disaster

Me agreeing with you doesn´t happen too often. Despite the truth of what you said I don´t think Hamed is one of the elite. A very good and especially dangerous fighter but he lacks the deepth in resume to be ranked up there.
Funt to watch though.

[box101]

showed no resolve after loss to barrera wich will always leave ? looming over head berrera himself showed that same resolve im refering to after poision junior jones losses were if he didnt we would not refer to him as the legendary marco antonio berrera that being said talent never issue but all other qualities missing by premature departure from sport so his ranking among feather weights will never be as lofty as could have been

[JudgeDredd]

As a boxer . A fighter with excellent reflexes,and tremendous power for his weight.
Very flawed techique,often off balance ,poor defence ,relied allmost exclusively on his reactions to avoid shots,.A good but not great fighter who avoided some of his better contempories was schooled badly by the best fighter he faced,and had no appetite for a rematch.
As a man .A piece of shit.

Pretty much sums it up for me.

[DDA365]

That's quite a long bow you draw comparing Tyson ditching Rooney for pills like Aaron Snowell and Jay Bright with Hamed ditching Brendan Ingle for HOF trainer Manny Steward.

For what it's worth I think Hamed could've had Steward,Futch,Blackburn and Benton in his corner at the end and it wouldn't have made a jot of difference. Hamed had fallen in love with scoring one punch KO's and couldn't/wouldn't use his natural speed,elusiveness and angles (not to mention patience) to wait and set up them up anymore.

Plus he was an arrogant creep who thought that the rules of boxing didn't apply to him and refused to listen to anyone except his suckhole friends and family.
Yep.

I think one of the main reasons for the split with ingle was he stopped listening to him and got very slack when it came to training. There were probably other reasons too we dont know about.

Also I dont think Steward was right for him tbh. Well maybe nobody would have been right for him at that point but I think that the absolute 100% focus should have been on footwork and movement and making Naz elusive again but it seemd he tried to c hange his style of attack more, trying to get him to shorten up his punches and not be so wild which probably was a decent idea but far from the most neccessary change that needed to be made.

[Boxed Ears]

When a guy has phenomenal speed, power and a rock solid chin he has a shot at beating anybody on any given day. That's Hamed. ATG in terms of top 100? Heh. Nah. ATG in terms of you have to talk about him eventually, yeah. He will go into the HOF eventually whether anyone likes it or not, I think. You really do have to talk about him at some point.

I didn't particularly like him when he was around and didn't know what to make of him but with the benefit of hindsight I've found an appreciation. You could say 'He could've been better but he wasn't serious enough' because he was certainly a friggin' clown. But I'm not sure he could've stayed around much longer which is why I don't fault him for rebounding after the loss much. I think he had terrible hand trouble and he'd already been at the top for quite a while. I don't think he could've gone Calzaghe and adopted a slapping style to save his hands either. You could argue he was great, you could argue he wasn't. He's a borderline guy, I think. I don't think it's unreasonable to go either we with him.

[lefthook31]

One of the best examples of how far extraordinary punching power can take you with little technical skills. As said, his shortcomings were so apparent even against the most limited of opposition.

[Mantequilla]

Hamed basically based his whole style on Herol Graham, the most sucessful fighter in his gym when he as growing up.

However he only really seemed to master the more flashy unorthdox upperbody elements and his overall fundamentals made the Ali influenced, technically flawed Graham look like a 100% textbook master in comparison...naseem really only made it work with his athletic talent and huge power.

He was a caricature of a fighter.It's a shame he wasn't around the gym with the great technical British fighterd like Buchanan, Winstone etc then you might have got a great fighter.He certainly had the physical tools to be an absolute beast had he learned to fight properly.

[PowerPuncher]

Hamed basically based his whole style on Herol Graham, the most sucessful fighter in his gym when he as growing up.

However he only really seemed to master the more flashy unorthdox upperbody elements and his overall fundamentals made the Ali influenced, technically flawed Graham look like a 100% textbook master in comparison...naseem really only made it work with his athletic talent and huge power.

He was a caricature of a fighter.It's a shame he wasn't around the gym with the great technical British fighterd like Buchanan, Winstone etc then you might have got a great fighter.He certainly had the physical tools to be an absolute beast had he learned to fight properly.

Agreed about Hamed basing his style on Graham, the whole Wincobank gym followed his style. In the beggining Naz used much of Grahams footwork and movement, when he got to his peak he abandoned it and became flat footed. If Hamed took Graham up on his offer of being Hameds trainer he'd have been far better.

Graham did things in the ring that Buchanan and Winstone didnt have the creativity to dream about. He was a special fighter in my view, with some of the best head movement and footwork I've seen. He was avoided, and only got his chance against 2 of avoided greats in Kalambay and McCallum and arguably beat them both. I think all 3 beat the Hagler of 86-7

[Addie]

]
When I saw MAB disassemble Jesus Salud in 2000 and heard he was the next scheduled opponent for "Ears", I knew that the magic carpet ride was all but over. MAB had managed to regain his timing and confidence and the Salud match underlined it. Hamed was in no way capable of beating such a well-rounded fighter, save for some lucky punch.

Even Emmanuel Stewart who commented on the Salud fight sounded like he was picking Marco to beat his fighter he was that impressed.

[Mantequilla]

IF by creativity you mean putting yourself in dangerous defensive positions by pulling your head straight back and leaning all over the place then i'd agree.He had good points too for sure like his footwork(hamed never came close to it imo), but it was hardly a wise style to copy imo.

Graham only has an arguement for winning the kalambay rematch imo, but it's hardly the most relevant fight with both of them being well past their best.Great bout though.

[johnmaff36]

cant believe what im reading here. Words like 'phenomenon' and 'elite'?
Ok he had 'interesting' intros but so had rick flair and thats f**k all to do with boxing ability. F*****g flying carpets and all that shit. Hes watched too many Rocky films that fella.All that leaning back from punches and jumping in with punches whilst holding your chin in the air never impressed me. Its ok doing that against 2nd and 3rd rate fighters but Ali he is not. The first good guy he fought, schooled him. No call for rematch. No jumping back on the horse against a top contender. Nothing.

A VERY overrated,hateful man that you couldnt like if he was your own son who handpicked almost ALL of his fights

[mcvey]

Just simply what is your opinion of Naseem Hamed e.g what did you think of his talent, entrances, where you rate him compared to the all time greats, etc

I personally think he had great potential but based on his performances from 1998 - 2002 he does'nt deserve to be mentioned with the greats, no chance. {and thats coming from a fan of his , I mean as a boxer and showman , not as a person because from what I've heard he was horrible}

and please keep this in the classic forum because I'd like to here your opinions.

As a fighter he had plenty of flaws ,he was often off balance when he missed, and sloppy defensively.
What he did have was terrific power.
As a man, I think he is a peice of shit.

[Clinton]

cant believe what im reading here. Words like 'phenomenon' and 'elite'?
Ok he had 'interesting' intros but so had rick flair and thats f**k all to do with boxing ability. F*****g flying carpets and all that shit. Hes watched too many Rocky films that fella.All that leaning back from punches and jumping in with punches whilst holding your chin in the air never impressed me. Its ok doing that against 2nd and 3rd rate fighters but Ali he is not. The first good guy he fought, schooled him. No call for rematch. No jumping back on the horse against a top contender. Nothing.

A VERY overrated,hateful man that you couldnt like if he was your own son who handpicked almost ALL of his fights
I agree.I'm a hater.so it's obvious where I'm coming from,but here's the reality.The first elite he fought beat his ass.I hear on this site about his "top opposition" and sublime skills?Who-33 year old Tom Johnson,previously ko'd and past it Kelly,3-time stretchered out of the ring Sanchez(the 2nd time being against Hamed),Vivian Bungu,Paul Ingle,Manuel Medina?Good,but nothing too impressive.Where are JMMs and Moraleses whom he avoided like the plague.His unorthodox style was actually one of his greatest strengths.He would talk enough crap to make Muhammed Ali blush and do a 10 minute ring entrance walk,thereby infuriating his opponents and then draw them into one of his hamed style unorthodox shootouts,which played right into his hands as they all thought his off-balance unorthodoxy made him easy to hit.They exposed themselves in an off balance manner which was Hamed's strength,not theirs.So Marco gets into the ring and fights a disciplined fight,thereby completely negating the hamed unorthodoxy and proceeds to kick 27 year-old hamed's ass.Does hamed demand a rematch to set things "right"?Nope.He fights once more against Calvo and retires,in my opinion,because he knows he's certainly not beating any of the elites.Good riddance,I say.

[anarci]

I cant remember the last time i was so happy to see a fighter get his ass kicked than when Barrera kicked Nazs ass. Naz was a fighter i loved to hate,and never missed any of his fights. I think he should be in the IBHOF since he was the top man for awhile. He beat many good champs although most were past there prime. I dont know if id consider him a great fighter kind of borderline lower tier great/and very good.

I do consider his power great though hes definitly one of the top 10 or maybe even top 5 punchers of the last 25 years. He had great reflexes and natural ability, however him putting his tail between his legs after Barrera whupped him hurts his legacy. So i do not consider him great. hes more like an almost great.

[mcvey]

I agree.I'm a hater.so it's obvious where I'm coming from,but here's the reality.The first elite he fought beat his ass.I hear on this site about his "top opposition" and sublime skills?Who-33 year old Tom Johnson,previously ko'd and past it Kelly,3-time stretchered out of the ring Sanchez(the 2nd time being against Hamed),Vivian Bungu,Paul Ingle,Manuel Medina?Good,but nothing too impressive.Where are JMMs and Moraleses whom he avoided like the plague.His unorthodox style was actually one of his greatest strengths.He would talk enough crap to make Muhammed Ali blush and do a 10 minute ring entrance walk,thereby infuriating his opponents and then draw them into one of his hamed style unorthodox shootouts,which played right into his hands as they all thought his off-balance unorthodoxy made him easy to hit.They exposed themselves in an off balance manner which was Hamed's strength,not theirs.So Marco gets into the ring and fights a disciplined fight,thereby completely negating the hamed unorthodoxy and proceeds to kick 27 year-old hamed's ass.Does hamed demand a rematch to set things "right"?Nope.He fights once more against Calvo and retires,in my opinion,because he knows he's certainly not beating any of the elites.Good riddance,I say.

One of my most nights watching fights, plus I won £25.