How far could Prince Naseem have went?

[garymcfall]

He seemed to be one of the most naturally gifted fighters of his decade, with a very strange style, but seemed to get a little too arrogant and didnt train like he should have. However how far do you think he could have went if he hadnt had such a massive ego and trained a bit more?

[young griffo]

He did very well but short of fights with guys like Junior Jones,Erik Morales,and maybe Floyd Mayweather I don't think he could've done too much more.

He was too small to go too much above Featherweight imo,but I'd have loved to see him jump to 130 for a fight with Floyd even though I don't think he had any chance of winning.I also favour Morales over Naz also but it would've been very interesting to see ,but I think Hamed would've destroyed Jones.

Ultimately Naz didn't quite live up to his own hype but he was still a top fighter,an ATG puncher,and one of the most entertaining fighters of the last 15 years.I don't think of his career as wasted at all.

[PowerPuncher]

He could have beaten Morales, Barrera and Pacman if he stayed focused. And he may have had the style to give Mayweather a close fight. I acutally think if Hamed had 1 of the Mayweathers training him he would have improved. From 1995-2001 he didn't train very much. He probably peaked in 1995.

His achievements are underlooked. He cleaned out a good featherweight division over a 5year period.

Bare in mind Hamed started at flyweight, won his first title at batamweight and should have fought for world titles at Super Bantamweight instead of Featherweight, but the easy fight to make was against Robinson for the Featherweight WBO strap

[PowerPuncher]

Great and Very Good Fighters Hamed beat:

Vasquez - 3 division champion, WBA featherweight champ - brutalised

Bungu - IBF king at 122 beating Mkkinney twice (before Barrera did), had a better resume at super bantamweight than Barrera - ko'd in 4

Soto - WBC champ, top3 at 126 and beat Castillo whos currently been P4P at lightweight - beat easily

Tom Johnson - IBF champ at feather and top2 in the world, outboxed and ko'd

Ingle - IBF champ and beat the man who beat MAB

Medina - 5 time featherweight champ in his prime, top 5 featherweight - avoided by MAB - ko'd despite Hamed suffering from Flu

McColough - ex bantamweight champ and robbed of the super bantamweight crown, beat without too much trouble, he went on to go close with Morales 6 months later

Robinson - excellent WBO champ who himself beat a 3weight champ and made many defences, easily outboxed and dispatched brutally.

Kevin Kelly - still near his prime, ex-champ and a top3 fighter when Hamed ko'd him

Hamed beat all 4 belt holders, all the top featherweight contenders and a total of 10 world champions and ruled the roost for 6 years. His resume is far better than Kostya Tyszus at 140.

Hamed is a natural bantamweight that was campaigning at super bantamweight and only fought at featherweight because a title fight became available.

Hamed beat 2 fighters in 2 rounds that each went the distance with Erik Morales.

Hamed would have fought Barrera years earlier if MAB wasn't getting beat up by Junior Jones (who went on to lose to a Hamed victim)

[achillesthegreat]

I consider him a great fighter but I think he could have mixed with elite company.

People forget that while being past it and looking awful he some how managed to keep the MAB fight quite close. I think he lost on two cards by 115-112 or something.

[Sweet Science]

Naseem Hamed was such a wasted talent. It's sad to me, he was the most naturally talented fighter to come out of England. I find a lot of people don't really appreciate what he could have been and hate him for his arrogance and ego. I admit he was silly and very big headed at times but he made the sport of boxing so much more interesting. I think he was sorely missed when he left.

Morrales and Barrera were great fighters, true warriors infact. In my opinion Hamed could have been greater than both of them. If he hadn't let his ego rule him, continued to train diligently, and kept Brendan Ingle around he would have beaten everyone in his era and shown the world how truly great he was. Alas it wasn't to be and Allah is the best of planners.

[doublesuited]

he may have had the style to give Mayweather a close fight. Right... and what style would this be?

[fg2227]

Naz got found out when he stepped up a level. In my book a waste of space
as a human being.

[LeedsLad]

Stylistically, he would have been much better fighting Morales rather than Barrera. Barrera turned from aggressor into counter-puncher, theres no way Morales would have done that. When Hamed is talking crap to Morales, he would just start a toe to toe battle with him. Hamed had unbelievable power, but Morales had an iron chin and i think the fight goes 12 rounds and Hamed wins.

Naseem Hamed could have been P4P one of the very best of all time, its a shame he left Brendan Ingle because Brendan knew what he was good at and focused on that, rather than trying to make him box.

[Outboxer]

In my opinion, he had talent on the same level as RJJ, Hearns, Ali, etc. Like them, he was literally a freak in the ring, especially around the time he fought Robinson for the World title -- very fast hands and feet, a surprisingly solid chin (he only ever really went down due to being off balance, and he never took a ten count in his career), lightning reflexes that allowed him to easily sway/duck/weave around even chain punches, and of course, most telling of all, that crushing/concussive power, the ability to lay people out with a single punch.

He didn't really live up to even 70% of his talent, which is a shame. The Barrera fight ruined him in more ways than one.

[mcvey]

Great and Very Good Fighters Hamed beat:

Vasquez - 3 division champion, WBA featherweight champ - brutalised

Bungu - IBF king at 122 beating Mkkinney twice (before Barrera did), had a better resume at super bantamweight than Barrera - ko'd in 4

Soto - WBC champ, top3 at 126 and beat Castillo whos currently been P4P at lightweight - beat easily

Tom Johnson - IBF champ at feather and top2 in the world, outboxed and ko'd

Ingle - IBF champ and beat the man who beat MAB

Medina - 5 time featherweight champ in his prime, top 5 featherweight - avoided by MAB - ko'd despite Hamed suffering from Flu

McColough - ex bantamweight champ and robbed of the super bantamweight crown, beat without too much trouble, he went on to go close with Morales 6 months later

Robinson - excellent WBO champ who himself beat a 3weight champ and made many defences, easily outboxed and dispatched brutally.

Kevin Kelly - still near his prime, ex-champ and a top3 fighter when Hamed ko'd him

Hamed beat all 4 belt holders, all the top featherweight contenders and a total of 10 world champions and ruled the roost for 6 years. His resume is far better than Kostya Tyszus at 140.

Hamed is a natural bantamweight that was campaigning at super bantamweight and only fought at featherweight because a title fight became available.

Hamed beat 2 fighters in 2 rounds that each went the distance with Erik Morales.

Hamed would have fought Barrera years earlier if MAB wasn't getting beat up by Junior Jones (who went on to lose to a Hamed victim)
None of those is great,Hamed never beat a great fighter.

[mcvey]

He seemed to be one of the most naturally gifted fighters of his decade, with a very strange style, but seemed to get a little too arrogant and didnt train like he should have. However how far do you think he could have went if he hadnt had such a massive ego and trained a bit more?
If he had continued I think his head would have exploded it was getting so big.