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HaHa no he definitely could not have been the greatest fighter ever had he not ****ed around. Barrera was a step up in class for him and he was ruthlessly exposed by a better fighter, simple as that.
True, Hamed wasn't the best trainer, but he never was even when he was with Brendan Ingle. That said, i don't think that Hamed progressed as a fighter when he left Brendan Ingle which was supposedly the plan. If anything, Hamed went backwards and never fulifilled his potential IMO.
He wanted 'Yes' men working with him and surprisingly Manny Steward helped to fill that role, although Oscar Saurez was allegedly the 'Head' trainer!
In Steward's opinion Naseem Hamed is the hardest puncher he has ever worked with, but i'm not sure whether that can be taken literally as Steward has plenty of great things to say about every fighter he has worked with. Obviously Hamed hit hard but how would you compare his punching power p4p against the likes of Lewis, Hearns, McClellan etc?
Hamed was an exceptional fighter, and maybe if he hadn't believed in his own hype and trained a lot harder, instead of wasting time on ring entrances etc., then he may have achieved more, but the bottom line is that Barrera had the beating of Hamed, probably at any stage in their careers, though the version of Hamed that beat Steve Robinson was outstanding.Comment
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MAB just had a plan and he executed. He made Naz look bad by keeping him off balance!Comment
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MAB trained harder, had a better game plan and used Hameds ego against him!
On the night Barrera was the better fighter no doubt but dont kid yourself into saying he owned Hamed because he didn't.
I can recall clearly Barrera fighting for long spells behind a very high guard, he kept on the move, changed the angles and counter punched. Hamed hit air more often than not and slowed down. Barrera then upped his work rate.
Great fight plan from a great fighter.
It doesn't make Hamed a poor fighter though because he wasn't he was a breath of fresh air for this sport!
Hamed brought on the end of his own career as much as Barrera did!Comment
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Naz looked like the clown he was. He was a punk with a very weird style, no technique, even less balance, and very good power. Barrera was/is 1000x the boxer/fighter Naz could ever dream of being. Just another fizzled British hype gone bad.Comment
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Naz was close to getting exposed by Kevin Kelley too until Kelly got too cought up in knocking him out. Barrera completley outclassed Naz. I dont remember the fight being close at all. HBO was being bias towards Naz if I remember correctly.
I didnt follow boxing at Hamed's "peak" so I cant really say whether that was his best or not, but it looked to me like Barerra exposed him and its not fair to say his mind wasnt in it. Thats discrediting what MAB did.Comment
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