I wasn't watching boxing when Naz was fighting, so all I have are YouTube fights against other guys I don't know too apart from Barrera. He looked impressive but sloppy and seem easy to get wobbled with shots.
So 3 quick questions for those that know him well...
His highlights show his spectacular KOs but were those guys cakes or did he really hit that hard?
For guys like me to measure how good he really was, where would you rank him on the current P4P list?
If he is not on your P4P list, who can you compare him to now?
Yes he really hit that hard, he would beat any of the current Featherweight champions and probably KO most of them.
Stylistically there is nobody that reminds me of him, the most entertaining fighter Britain ever produced and easily the most entertaining fighter in recent times.
He was awesome. He peaked in 1995. If you judge him post-Brendan Ingle then you're going to think he was B level. At that point he'd practically stopped training and relied heavily on his power; which was an amazing spectacle to behold in of itself. Fans of Naseem who watched him from the early 90s know how brilliant he was when he had no hand, weight problems and his reflexes were still intact. People talk about Lomachenko being matrix-like. Let me tell you something: it was Naseem who was the real Neo. There'll never be another fighter like the Prince. Ever.
Sorry, john...you might need to boxrec check old Paez...his record and the names on his resume will surprise you...he was an entertainer, and he definitely had more substance and longevity...
Not to mention HEART...
Paez > Hamed.
I think I just named his top wins already so maybe its you that need to check boxrec.But anyways I remember Paez well and the fact he was entertaining means NOTHING as far as rating goes.And I don't think many at all would rate him over Hamed.But he sounds like a fav of yours and that's cool but he was not a special fighter in the sence that NOBODY would debate whether he belongs in HOF.And the fact he was so popular AND STILL don't get HOF votes from any writer/expert says something.PS I don't rate T span n that high and Espinoza along with Dorcey and grove don't match Hameds wins
In fairness - Ingle won the IBF belt from Medina after his loss to Hamed, and then defended it against Junior Jones and stopped him at MSG in a great fight. I think calling him fringe contender is probably not accurate. Plus without his head injury there is not telling what he might have achieved.
The Jones he beat at 126 was an OLD Jones and not ranked and never had even 1 win vs a top 20 fighter after .So yea 1 win vs a ranked fighter(medina a guy who was rated towards bottom)is what I would call fringe contender.It comes down to in my book how much of your prime did you spend in top 10 and with Ingle that would be VERY little.But lets face it even top 20 in the world is impressive how many people on here are top 50 in their STATE at what they do?Not many if any.And as far as injury well he seemed to have hit his high already and what COULD have been is not a way to rate somone.
Now that's got to be a joke.I mean I used to like watching Paez fight great fight with tony Lopez and Dorsey but Hamed much better resume.
Sorry, john...you might need to boxrec check old Paez...his record and the names on his resume will surprise you...he was an entertainer, and he definitely had more substance and longevity...
Not to mention HEART...
Paez > Hamed.
Yea forgot about Ingle he was no world beater but fringe contenter.But Hamed SHOULD be 1st guy to win all 4 belts but never got WBA because they stripped Vasquez like a week before for not fightin some mand instead of the best guy in div at time.Dude was prob dead like the guy the WBO rated for a least a couple months before somone told them.Thing is he prob was not top 20 best fighter in morg.Yea its like that always guys now are like INOUE is a monster then he losses to top fighter like say Tete and he is just a bum SMDH.
In fairness - Ingle won the IBF belt from Medina after his loss to Hamed, and then defended it against Junior Jones and stopped him at MSG in a great fight. I think calling him fringe contender is probably not accurate. Plus without his head injury there is not telling what he might have achieved.
Well below Jorge Paez...
Now that's got to be a joke.I mean I used to like watching Paez fight great fight with tony Lopez and Dorsey but Hamed much better resume.
I believe he just missed on the WBA. Wilfredo Vazquez vacated in order to fight Hamed.
Ah - I always thought it was for the belt and Hamed vacated after the W.
Yeah he is typical of someone who had an overrated resume when he was active, then became underrated and overlooked after the Barrera loss.
Medina, Boom Boom, Kelley, Ingle, Bungu, McCullough all good wins. He won all 4 alphabet belts too which is overlooked.
Yea forgot about Ingle he was no world beater but fringe contenter.But Hamed SHOULD be 1st guy to win all 4 belts but never got WBA because they stripped Vasquez like a week before for not fightin some mand instead of the best guy in div at time.Dude was prob dead like the guy the WBO rated for a least a couple months before somone told them.Thing is he prob was not top 20 best fighter in morg.Yea its like that always guys now are like INOUE is a monster then he losses to top fighter like say Tete and he is just a bum SMDH.
Yeah he is typical of someone who had an overrated resume when he was active, then became underrated and overlooked after the Barrera loss.
Medina, Boom Boom, Kelley, Ingle, Bungu, McCullough all good wins. He won all 4 alphabet belts too which is overlooked.
I believe he just missed on the WBA. Wilfredo Vazquez vacated in order to fight Hamed.
I would rate him a little higher then you if he was fightin today.I think he makes bottom 3rd people forget how many rated guys he beat.They just remember MAB and he is an ATG.But put his record up with Inoue SSR,Garcia right now and it stands up.Its just some of these guys have yet to fall and once they do half the guys on here will s hite all over them.Kinda like they do Hamed for MAB fight.
Yeah he is typical of someone who had an overrated resume when he was active, then became underrated and overlooked after the Barrera loss.
Medina, Boom Boom, Kelley, Ingle, Bungu, McCullough all good wins. He won all 4 alphabet belts too which is overlooked.
I would rate him a little higher then you if he was fightin today.I think he makes bottom 3rd people forget how many rated guys he beat.They just remember MAB and he is an ATG.But put his record up with Inoue SSR,Garcia right now and it stands up.Its just some of these guys have yet to fall and once they do half the guys on here will s hite all over them.Kinda like they do Hamed for MAB fight.
I put him bottom third too, but I guess you rank out of 10 and I rank out of 15 hahaha
oh compared to todays P4P? I'd say probably between 10-15
I would rate him a little higher then you if he was fightin today.I think he makes bottom 3rd people forget how many rated guys he beat.They just remember MAB and he is an ATG.But put his record up with Inoue SSR,Garcia right now and it stands up.Its just some of these guys have yet to fall and once they do half the guys on here will s hite all over them.Kinda like they do Hamed for MAB fight.
No chance would he even be considered top 10 at 126. No order but you've got
Willie Pep
Sandy Saddler
Salvador Sanchez
Vicente Saldivar
Eusebio Pedroza
Alexis Arguello
Azumah Nelson
Juan Manuel Marquez
Kid Chocolate
Henry Armstrong
Eder Jofre
Abe Attell
Johnny Dundee
Terry McGovern
Jim Driscoll
Marco Antonio Barrera
Danny Lopez
To name a few and not all of those guys are career featherweights but still had greater accomplishments at the weight.
Well like I said "even that's not a givin"But there is no Footage of T McG and he and ABE Attell was a 118pder for most of career.Also even though my Irish azz loves Terrable terry both he and Attell were both involved in fixed fights(esp Attell).And some others had very short times at 26(Armstrong,Arguello)and not sure D Lopez was a better fighter(exciting yes)but better its close.But yes I would rank him below most on your list except for Driscoll who for some reason I cant remember I req the name but his career is not coming to mind.And also Dundee I don't think is on some other level.
He would be in and around the top 10 p4p today. I would say the standard of fighter has dropped a little from 10-15 years ago, when you had lots of p4p calibre fighters.
He had an early peak, comparable to Mike Tyson. He beat a lot of good fighters, champions, quite a few of which went on to win alphabet titles even after Hamed beat them.
He had one of those resumes where he beat a steady stream of B-level guys, and for the most part knocked them out. When he got to his first A-level guy he got beat, but if you observe his performances objectively, its fair to say he was not the fighter he was in his early 20's. Which is a shame. But people forget that in Barrera he didn't just fight a run of the mill A-level guy, he was top drawer, elite, in his prime, first ballot HOF'er. There is a difference, and my overriding feeling is Hamed gets too much **** for that loss because of his mouth and the expectations laid on him.
I do think as a whole he underachieved, the fact that he doesn't have any A-level fighters on his resume certainly counts against him. His problem was that there were not any A-/B+ type fighters, the only one you could probably class that was Johnny Tapia and that would have been a good fight for Hamed, and I think he probably wins that. Apart from that it was either B-level, or Morales, Barrera, and Marquez. Thats a BIG jump, those guys were killers, and ATG featherweights.
I think there are plenty of what I would call elite featherweights he would have beat past or present, there are fighters who just would not be able to handle that kind of power, especially if he had fought them when he was 23-24.
Overall I believe his fans overstate his achievements, abilities, and probably make excuses for his shortcomings a bit too much. His naysayers don't give him enough credit for his wins, becoming a champion at 21 years old, and cleaning out the featherweight division. The truth is somewhere in the middle.
But make no bones about it - the guy could fight, he could really fight. He was unorthodox, elusive, tough, good chin, stamina, good powers of recovery, hand speed, and truly destructive power. Certainly one of the hardest punchers we have seen, he was ranked in the top 50 of the 'Ring Magazine top 100 punchers of all time.' He also brought a lot of excitement to the game, he put the 'little guys' on the map from a financial point of view, and that carried over to Morales, Barrera, Marquez, and Pac, and therein lies Naz's problem, those guys were like the featherweight version of the 4 horseman of the 80's and he's not in that league. But is that something to be ashamed of? I don't think it is.
Ooooh sry I think he would be bottom 3rd.He was a very special puncher at 26.And his speed was next level.
oh compared to todays P4P? I'd say probably between 10-15
He hit very hard but Barrera beat the hell out of him and he quit the ring after that loss at a young age. He was very rich so he didn't need to box for money anymore. I though he was good but not great.