Naseem Hamed v MAB

[Grant1]

I read a little while back, in Joe Calzaghe' autobiography, that prior to the Barrera fight Hamed looked like a beaten man, unwrapping and rewrapping his gloves looking on edge and eventually holding the fight up by more than an hour.

I'm asking this cos I genuinely dont know one way or another but was there summit up with Hamed or was he beaten straight up when he was on his game ??

Thanks to anyone who chooses to reply.

[Thread Stealer]

barrera fought a very good disciplined fight, outboxing naz, fouling back when naz tried to cheap shot him, and winning a clear decision.

it didn't help that naz had left ingle and gotten with suarez in the corner, and also gotten lazy, but i'm not sure it would have mattered anyway.

[PH|LLA]

its common knowledge that he had broken up with his team a few years prior and was past his best by the time he met Barrera

Add to that that Barrera put on one of the best boxing performances i've ever seen.

Hamed had no chance in hell

[MON]

Hamed was bizarre in the build up.

He made somebody go out to south america to oversee the making of goat skinned green gloves.....then once Barrera chose a standard pair, Hamed decided he wanted to fight with them instead.

Then even in the dressing room he wasn't happy with gloves and wanted new ones.

Then he had his hands unwrapped and rewrapped.

Then as he got into the ring, he abandoned his jump over the ropes and just climbed through.


Not sure what happened to him, but something wasn't right.

[dan-b]

Hamed was bizarre in the build up.

He made somebody go out to south america to oversee the making of goat skinned green gloves.....then once Barrera chose a standard pair, Hamed decided he wanted to fight with them instead.

Then even in the dressing room he wasn't happy with gloves and wanted new ones.

Then he had his hands unwrapped and rewrapped.

Then as he got into the ring, he abandoned his jump over the ropes and just climbed through.


Not sure what happened to him, but something wasn't right.

Thats actually fascinating. Do you think things would have been different had he stuck with Brendan Ingle?

[Grant1]

Thats actually fascinating. Do you think things would have been different had he stuck with Brendan Ingle?

I find it fascinating too (i've heard lots of it before) - which is why i was interested in other peoples thoughts.

(P.S - i'm in Watford in April)

[dan-b]

I find it fascinating too (i've heard lots of it before) - which is why i was interested in other peoples thoughts.

(P.S - i'm in Watford in April)

I don't remember hearing the stuff about the gloves before. What are you coming to sunny Watford for?:D

[Grant1]

I don't remember hearing the stuff about the gloves before. What are you coming to sunny Watford for?:D

Coming to watch the Super Ospreys beat Saracens in the 1/4 final of the European Cup (hopefully) :lol:

[MON]

I'd love to know the thinking behind a lot of the stuff.

Was it ego/Deliberately unsettling Barrera or had Hamed just lost it??

Hamed banged on about the green gloves, saying they were the muslim colour and the goat skin is the best taste for the opponent to eat (haha) and he went to all that effort of making somebody fly across the world to oversee the production. Then all of a sudden he wanted the standard yellow pair that Barrera had already chosen........then all Naz's people stepped in and said that as champion, Hamed had first refusal on gloves, Naz started writing on the gloves Barrera had chosen to mark them as his. Naz even stood there grinning with the gloves on saying 'lovely fit'....at that point you'd just think he was trying to piss Barrera off.

Naz also seemed intent on making Barrera wait for the fight, the two camps got into a big row over how long Naz would take to enter the ring. They wanted 4 minutes, Naz wanted 10 minutes.

Then Naz got really fussy in the build up to the fight with his hands and gloves, with not long to go before the fight he was still punching the pads to see which gloves he wanted and then abandoned his jump because the glove wasn't right.

And as well, he had a big chat with Michael Buffer about what Buffer would say, what Naz would say and that this was more important than the fight!

[bill poster]

When an egoist knows he gonna get schooled he does strange things?

[dan-b]

I'd love to know the thinking behind a lot of the stuff.

Was it ego/Deliberately unsettling Barrera or had Hamed just lost it??

Hamed banged on about the green gloves, saying they were the muslim colour and the goat skin is the best taste for the opponent to eat (haha) and he went to all that effort of making somebody fly across the world to oversee the production. Then all of a sudden he wanted the standard yellow pair that Barrera had already chosen........then all Naz's people stepped in and said that as champion, Hamed had first refusal on gloves, Naz started writing on the gloves Barrera had chosen to mark them as his. Naz even stood there grinning with the gloves on saying 'lovely fit'....at that point you'd just think he was trying to piss Barrera off.

Naz also seemed intent on making Barrera wait for the fight, the two camps got into a big row over how long Naz would take to enter the ring. They wanted 4 minutes, Naz wanted 10 minutes.

Then Naz got really fussy in the build up to the fight with his hands and gloves, with not long to go before the fight he was still punching the pads to see which gloves he wanted and then abandoned his jump because the glove wasn't right.

And as well, he had a big chat with Michael Buffer about what Buffer would say, what Naz would say and that this was more important than the fight!

It's interesting because there are two schools of thought here. Either it was nerves masquerading as ego or he really was just not at all bothered by MAB & held him in such contempt thought he could do what he wanted & still win.

[MON]

Watching Naz in the build up, I really think he'd go it into his head that nobody could take his power and any match involving him was just a matter of how long it took him to catch the opponent with the big shots.

So I'd side with the contempt of MAB and thinking he'd win whatever happened.

[C Money]

:lol: Hamed never ends:-(


His fans will try and dismiss it but it was a CLEAR VICTORY for Barerra and EMBARRASSMENT for the then # 1 Shit talking Hamed.


I never tire of these images:D

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[cdub1012]

naz never faced any elite competition ... he chose barrera instead of morales since barrera lost an it didnt pay off like all the other time.. he got whooped... i heard a few months back he balloned up to like 190lbs an was driving his car like over 100 miles an hours an got pulled over an taken to jail..... wat a down fall

[rendog67]

not sure exactly what happened i doubt you will ever hear the truth from the prince himself, but maybe some of the people around him could tell us in the future.

[dan-b]

His fans will try and dismiss it but it was a CLEAR VICTORY for Barerra and EMBARRASSMENT for the then # 1 Shit talking Hamed.

I don't think any of us are refuting that.

[Mikey]

His next fight after Barrera, he didnt seem to give a toss in that either, lacklustre performance, but still easily beat him. Leaving Ingle was a massive mistake, he should have went back to Ingle after the Barrera fight, he would have been the best trainer to get him motivated, but instead chose to leave boxing.

[dan-b]

Barrera and Morales ducked the prince it's factual knowledge he wanted them both years prior to this fight.
He was past his prime when Barerra decided to accept the fight, this was just a payday for the prince and he bet on Barerra to win and made loads of money.

I was about to post something else then realised you were obviously joking.

[Mikey]

I dont think Hamed had past his prime, he is the same age as Junior Witter, just that he lost his motivation or thought he could get by, by doing the mininum.

[FRKO]

Thats actually fascinating. Do you think things would have been different had he stuck with Brendan Ingle?

I hear people say that he would have been different if he'd stayed with Brendan, but ffs, why is it that a fighter automatically forgets everything he's ever learned when he drops his trainer? What a load of crap. If a fighter has any natural ability he will get the job done regardless of dropping his trainer. It's a shit excuse for what was a dire performance against a true great, and someone he stood no chance against, prime or not. MAB.

[splatter69]

naz never faced any elite competition ... he chose barrera instead of morales since barrera lost an it didnt pay off like all the other time.. he got whooped... i heard a few months back he balloned up to like 190lbs an was driving his car like over 100 miles an hours an got pulled over an taken to jail..... wat a down fall

Barrera is Elite. Unless you mean he never faced elite aside for that fight?..

[chimba]

Can we fuckin leave Hamed alone!!!

I have never seen anyone ressurected in these forums quite like him as if he was freakin SSR.

OK OK he beats everyone MAB, PAC, JMM, Erik..but still why keep talking about him like hes some kind of legend

[Grant1]

Can we fuckin leave Hamed alone!!!

I have never seen anyone ressurected in these forums quite like him as if he was freakin SSR.

OK OK he beats everyone MAB, PAC, JMM, Erik..but still why keep talking about him like hes some kind of legend

Only started the thread because I genuinely didn't know the answer - if you dont want to fuel the debate why dont you just ignore the thread ??

Radical thinking I know !!

[kartog]

Funny but people talk about the supposed deterioration of his talents around the same time that the level of his opposition was climbing up.

I'm sure Edwin Valero's fearsome talents will erode once he picks on Soto, Guzman, Juarez or even Raheem. He takes on Mosquera and he gets his ass on the canvas and gets extended 10 rounds. He picks on feather-fisted Honmo and was in danger of losing the bout until the ref decided to chicken-out and stop it prematurely due to a cut on the Japanese. I'm thinking there's a parallel here.

[dan-b]

I hear people say that he would have been different if he'd stayed with Brendan, but ffs, why is it that a fighter automatically forgets everything he's ever learned when he drops his trainer? What a load of crap. If a fighter has any natural ability he will get the job done regardless of dropping his trainer. It's a shit excuse for what was a dire performance against a true great, and someone he stood no chance against, prime or not. MAB.

I dont necessarily disagree with that I just like to get other peoples opinions.:good

[Shake]

I'd side with contempt for Barerra.

[Outboxer]

Can we fuckin leave Hamed alone!!!

I have never seen anyone ressurected in these forums quite like him as if he was freakin SSR.

OK OK he beats everyone MAB, PAC, JMM, Erik..but still why keep talking about him like hes some kind of legend
It's not about his boxing as much as it's about his image or personality. He's the guy you either loved or hated, much like how Ali was in his early days, pre-exile. He's going to keep cropping up here because of this. There's also the fact that the Barrera fight was in 2001 -- nowhere near as long ago as it feels, and so the shadow he cast is still far from gone.

In regard to the buildup to the fight, there is also footage of Hamed playing on the playstation and making sure his haircut was perfect instead of training, and his sparring was downright awful. He's never been technically good in any sense, but he was especially bad in that footage -- he was trying to KO his sparring partners with big, single shot bombs rather than actually box them. He was jumping into them, swinging like a drunk, and sometimes he got tangled up with them and they nearly fell over. After the sparring there is also footage of Manny Steward looking utterly dismal about it all, and commenting that he didn't like Hamed's sparring at all. There is footage of Hamed dancing or screwing around while doing ab work and the speed bag, and you never quite get the sense that he's taking anything seriously. There was also mention of the fact that Hamed barely sparred at all in his training camp, and so that horrible session that was recorded was most likely one of the very few. You can see a lot of this stuff in the Little Prince, Big Fight documentary.

[dan-b]

It's not about his boxing as much as it's about his image or personality. He's the guy you either loved or hated, much like how Ali was in his early days, pre-exile. He's going to keep cropping up here because of this. There's also the fact that the Barrera fight was in 2001 -- nowhere near as long ago as it feels, and so the shadow he cast is still far from gone.

In regard to the buildup to the fight, there is also footage of Hamed playing on the playstation and making sure his haircut was perfect instead of training, and his sparring was downright awful. He's never been technically good in any sense, but he was especially bad in that footage -- he was trying to KO his sparring partners with big, single shot bombs rather than actually box them. He was jumping into them, swinging like a drunk, and sometimes he got tangled up with them and they nearly fell over. After the sparring there is also footage of Manny Steward looking utterly dismal about it all, and commenting that he didn't like Hamed's sparring at all. There was also mention of the fact that Hamed barely sparred at all in his training camp, and so that horrible session that was recorded was most likely one of the very few. You can see a lot of this stuff in the Little Prince, Big Fight documentary.

Good post. That documentary is on YouTube so I'll watch it later.:good

[MON]

Hamed's sparring was embarrassing.

The amount of times he ended up headbutting the other guy was amazing, it was so wild and hard to watch.