Fighting Harada v Naseem Hamed

[McGrain]

Peak for peak, 12 rounds.

I think this would be a great, great match pressure pressure versus speed and power.

Harada is generally underated in my view. Losing to Kingpetch is no shame and beating him is something to be proud off - as for beating peak Jofre, that's a wonderful achievment.

But the weight of natural talent seems to lie with all time puncher Hamed.

Anyone care to make a pick?

[Sweet Pea]

Naseem needs space and angles to get off his big shots, Harada wouldn't provide that. Harada by Decision.

[dpw417]

Naseem needs space and angles to get off his big shots, Harada wouldn't provide that. Harada by Decision.
I'll second that...I only recently been able to catch some of Harada's fights, and I am impressed...He has an unbelievable workrate. he may get rocked a time or two against Hamed, but his torrid pace of fighting gets him a decision win...He would wear Hamed out.
Harada is something special.

[Sweet Pea]

I'll second that...I only recently been able to catch some of Harada's fights, and I am impressed...He has an unbelievable workrate. he may get rocked a time or two against Hamed, but his torrid pace of fighting gets him a decision win...He would wear Hamed out.
Harada is something special.Totally agree, one of the best swarmers I've seen. Not only great stamina and workrate, but great speed to stay on you, and a good punch.

[brownpimp88]

doesnt a swarmer usually lose to a devastating hitter?

[McGrain]

Naseem needs space and angles to get off his big shots, Harada wouldn't provide that. Harada by Decision.

I think you've ID'd the area where the fight would be decided but perhaps you underestimate Hamed's footwork a little? And Harada was knockoutable...

[red cobra]

Naseem needs space and angles to get off his big shots, Harada wouldn't provide that. Harada by Decision.
You've said most of what I was going to say. Harada would have smothered Hamed very effectively with his windmill type offensive output and would hva dominated Hamed over 15 rounds. What should be mentioned is that Harada was not just your run of the mill swarmer, but was an underrated high volume pressure fighter who had a mix of ring intelligence and toughness. His crowning achievement was twice defeating the great Eder Jofre, who retired, then came back to win the Featherweight title and then defend by a knockout over Vincente Saldivar and then retire afterwards as champion. Jofre's accomplishments underscore Harada'a victories over him and points out what a great fighter Harada was. Harada was indeed too clever to let Hamed land anything of importance, and after all, after conquering Jofre, how much trouble would he have with Hamed?

[red cobra]

It should also be noted that Harada should have been the first true 3 division world champion, were it not for Willie Pep screwing him out of his victory over Johnny Famechon in the late sixties.

[McGrain]

Lot's of great info on Harada RC.

I feel you underestimate Hamed somewhat, however.

[Mendoza]

doesnt a swarmer usually lose to a devastating hitter?

When the swarmer has the better chin, a much higer work rate, and a better heart, he has a chance. I think Hamed is a bit over rated. Kevin Kelly nealry finsished him, and Barrera cleanly defeated him.

Naz was a very good fighter, but I think he was more sizzle than substance, and the best pressure type of fighters in their primes or near primes would beat him.

[red cobra]

It should also be noted that Harada should have been the first true 3 division world champion, were it not for Willie Pep screwing him out of his victory over Johnny Famechon in the late sixties.
It's early in the morning and I'm not quite as lucid as I will be later, so let me make a correction, ...Harada should have been the first true 3 division champion SINCE HENRY ARMSTRONG.

[ThePlugInBabies]

Not when he has the better chin, and better heart.

is there much wrong with hamed's chin?

he wasn't stopped once during his entire career and the majority of the knockdowns he suffered can be attributed to being caught off balance rather than being geniunely hurt.

[Mendoza]

is there much wrong with hamed's chin?

he wasn't stopped once during his entire career and the majority of the knockdowns he suffered can be attributed to being caught off balance rather than being geniunely hurt.

Naz was a wild on offense and defense. Because of this he was often off balance. I still beleive the best Hamed fought were Kelly and Barerra. One exposed him, the other defeated him.

I do think Naz was hurt once vs Kelly. Why did Naz retire in 2002 at age 28? he had a lot left.

[McGrain]

Naz was a wild on offense and defense. Because of this he was often off balance. I still beleive the best Hamed fought were Kelly and Barerra. One exposed him, the other defeated him.

I do think Naz was hurt once vs Kelly. Why did Naz retire in 2002 at age 28? he had a lot left.

I think this is a mostly fair post, but I agree with Plug regarding Nas' chin, which I consider pretty solid.

Naz retired because he fought on ego. Once beaten he was never going to be the same and knew it.

[ThePlugInBabies]

Naz was a wild on offense and defense. Because of this he was often off balance. I still beleive the best Hamed fought were Kelly and Barerra. One exposed him, the other defeated him.

I do think Naz was hurt once vs Kelly. Why did Naz retire in 2002 at age 28? he had a lot left.

lack of hunger and he started to believe his own hype, his reflexes were fading and he thought all he had to do was turn up and land that one killer punch. brendan ingle kept his feet on the ground and was responsible for the KO artist that was so highly rated in the 90's.

giving ingle, his mentor the boot was an absolute disaster as was the horrible steward/suarez training partnership he hired to replace him.

have you seen the little prince? a documentary about the build up to barrera-hamed. very revealing, whilst MAB is working his bollocks off in the gym naz spends most of his time putting in half arsed work in training, pissing steward off and sitting around playing the playstation with his brothers.

hamed didn't have the drive anymore, although imo he never beats MAB.

[Mendoza]

is there much wrong with hamed's chin?

he wasn't stopped once during his entire career and the majority of the knockdowns he suffered can be attributed to being caught off balance rather than being geniunely hurt.

When was Hamed's chin tested? In which fight? I have a hunch Hammed was hiding an average chin, which usually is not a problem in the lower weights.

Hamed hit very hard and was hard to hit so he did not take many big shots. Fighters rarely walk away from boxing at age 28 when they are near the top. So why did Hammed retire?

I think Hammed was exposed a bit in the Kelly fight. After Barrera defeated him, I believe Hammed could not stomach the thought of losing to a lesser fighter so he decided to retire before it happened. I’m not saying Hammed had no bottle, but I am saying he didn’t like the rough stuff at the top level, and due to his exposure, he knew he would be in those type of fights.

[ThePlugInBabies]

like i said in my previous post. once he hit america he started to believe his own hype, he felt like he didn't have to work for the W anymore and could just turn up and smash his opponent out no questions asked.

he took the MAB defeat badly and at that point didn't have the motivation to come back and work his way back to the top again.

[Mantequilla]

Harada would beat him easily then lose any rematches as he was only good for that one last performance at featherweight.

[Sardu]

Both of the Jofre fights were over in Japan which makes me very suspicious. They were both very close fights from what I vaguely heard years ago and Jofre was not pleased, needless to say, about the verdicts. Hamed was an explosive puncher and quite awkward. In many fights that unorthodax style helped to confuse his opponents. One mistake could be your last against Hamed - he was exceptionally heavyhanded. However, Haranda was so exceptional, durable, never stopped punching. Hamed would exhausted late in the fight. If it is 12 then Haranda wins a UD. If it's 15 rounds he stops the prince.

[NickHudson]

This is how I see it too.

The Hamed of the last few years of his career was an accident waiting to happen.

He had stopped training properly, and was becoming more and more reliant on bravado, image and single hard shots.

The Hamed that fought Robinson in the mid-90s was really something.

Of course, I recognise with Hamed (as with so many unstoppable forces who eventually lose) it is hard to determine how much of the loss is self-deterioration and how much is increased quality of opponent.

lack of hunger and he started to believe his own hype, his reflexes were fading and he thought all he had to do was turn up and land that one killer punch. brendan ingle kept his feet on the ground and was responsible for the KO artist that was so highly rated in the 90's.

giving ingle, his mentor the boot was an absolute disaster as was the horrible steward/suarez training partnership he hired to replace him.

have you seen the little prince? a documentary about the build up to barrera-hamed. very revealing, whilst MAB is working his bollocks off in the gym naz spends most of his time putting in half arsed work in training, pissing steward off and sitting around playing the playstation with his brothers.

hamed didn't have the drive anymore, although imo he never beats MAB.

[Raging B(_)LL]

Harada wins this, and convincingly at that be it by decision or late stoppage. The one caveat would be that he would only be able to pull it off once, because as Mantequilla said Harada only had one good effort left in him by the time he moved up to feather. A shame really as he showed in the first Famechon fight that he could carry the additional weight well without diminishing his workrate or speed significantly. In the return it just seemed like he grew old overnight, and with each passing round he looked more and more like a shot fighter. But give me the Harada from their first fight and he would do some number on the frontrunner Hamed.

[Doppleganger]

When was Hamed's chin tested? In which fight? I have a hunch Hammed was hiding an average chin, which usually is not a problem in the lower weights. Absolutely untrue. Hamed was clocked a few times and was never noticeably hurt or stunned. Whilst it's difficult to say how good his chin was, it certainly could not be considered just average.

Hamed hit very hard and was hard to hit so he did not take many big shots. Fighters rarely walk away from boxing at age 28 when they are near the top. So why did Hammed retire? He was only hard to hit when he used the Brendan Ingle switch hitting style. Once he started to rely on power he became quite easy to hit.

I think Hammed was exposed a bit in the Kelly fight. After Barrera defeated him, I believe Hammed could not stomach the thought of losing to a lesser fighter so he decided to retire before it happened. I’m not saying Hammed had no bottle, but I am saying he didn’t like the rough stuff at the top level, and due to his exposure, he knew he would be in those type of fights. No. Hamed retired basically because he became bored with the sport and enjoyed the trappings of wealth too much.

BTW I don't know who would win the fight but I do know that Fighting Harada better have had a good chin because it sounds like it would have been tested.

[Cabannero]

I don't think Harada's much worse than McCollough. And Hamed's win over McCollough was not impressive at all, I had Hamed ahead at very slim margin.

[Mendoza]

Doppleganger says: Absolutely untrue. Hamed was clocked a few times and was never noticeably hurt or stunned. Whilst it's difficult to say how good his chin was, it certainly could not be considered just average.

He was only hard to hit when he used the Brendan Ingle switch hitting style. Once he started to rely on power he became quite easy to hit.

In which fight was Hamed clocked and was never noticebaly hurt?

[Doppleganger]

In which fight was Hamed clocked and was never noticebaly hurt?It's probably easier for you to tell me in what fights Hamed was noticeably hurt.