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Pacquiao, Morales, and Barrera Should All Hail the Prince (article)
Pacquiao, Morales, and Barrera Should All Hail the Prince
Love Him or Hate Him, He Always Brought a Show
http://www.******************.com/ar...ry=NEWS&id=352
John Chavez
1/23/2007
Prince Naseem Hamed was everything Manny Pacquiao isn’t. He was out-spoken, arrogant, unorthodox, and ridiculously theatrical. He did things in the ring that made you either laugh in amusement or grind your teeth in anger. The one thing you can’t deny is that he always brought the show.
He made million dollar featherweights.
I won’t lie and say that the Prince was one of the best featherweights to have ever laced up the red leather. Although he very well could have been, had he not retired prematurely. However, I will say that in an era were heavyweights ruled, the Prince put featherweights on the map in a major way. The man provided sound bites galore, riled you up with his ring entrances, and show boated in a way not seen since the great Ali.
His showdown with Marco Antonio Barrera was a memorable moment for me. The Prince was undefeated at that time and his star was at an all time high. This fight actually attracted mainstream viewers because they all wanted to see the Prince get destroyed. The house in which I watched the event had no idea about the first Morales-Barrera fight. All they knew was that they hated the Prince and were hoping to see him get demolished.
While Marco Antonio Barrera was already considered a star by most hardcore fans, the Prince fight crossed Marco over as a recognized mainstream star. The Barrera-Morales rematch did well on pay per view because of the notoriety Marco gained from the Prince fight. I’m not saying hardcore fans weren’t intrigued by the rematch of the two warriors. I’m just saying that the pay per view numbers reflected a group of people who didn’t know about featherweights, now knew about the little guys. These people now knew that feather-weight fighters were just as entertaining as heavyweights except for the fact that they could keep up a hectic pace for all 12 rounds.
The Prince earned a six million dollar payday for his bout with Barrera and paved the way for big money fights in or around the division. No longer were featherweights relegated to undercard and late evening television. Featherweights were now the attraction.
As much as people hated his out of ring antics and arrogant attitude, The Prince was a guy you loved to hate. He brought creativity and innovation to the art of show boating. Now we have guys who talk solely about how much money they have and how their opponent is some form of ****sexual. These attempts at verbal warfare are extremely redundant and boring affairs.
What boxing is lacking today is a star that has the charisma of a Prince Hamed. We have a lot of talented fighters today but they all lack that extra spark that made guys like Ali and Hamed special. Rather than just hope that these fighters lost at some point in their careers, they made people want to see when they lost. Barrera, Morales, and Pacquiao are all some how linked to the Prince and should tip their hats to the man who paved the way to get the big paydays they so rightfully deserve.
Can you imagine the frenzy that would happen if the Prince came out of retirement to face Pacquiao? I’d pay whatever they asked for on pay per view because you know you’d be seeing not only a boxing match between two legends, but a show of epic proportions.
Love Him or Hate Him, He Always Brought a Show
http://www.******************.com/ar...ry=NEWS&id=352
John Chavez
1/23/2007
Prince Naseem Hamed was everything Manny Pacquiao isn’t. He was out-spoken, arrogant, unorthodox, and ridiculously theatrical. He did things in the ring that made you either laugh in amusement or grind your teeth in anger. The one thing you can’t deny is that he always brought the show.
He made million dollar featherweights.
I won’t lie and say that the Prince was one of the best featherweights to have ever laced up the red leather. Although he very well could have been, had he not retired prematurely. However, I will say that in an era were heavyweights ruled, the Prince put featherweights on the map in a major way. The man provided sound bites galore, riled you up with his ring entrances, and show boated in a way not seen since the great Ali.
His showdown with Marco Antonio Barrera was a memorable moment for me. The Prince was undefeated at that time and his star was at an all time high. This fight actually attracted mainstream viewers because they all wanted to see the Prince get destroyed. The house in which I watched the event had no idea about the first Morales-Barrera fight. All they knew was that they hated the Prince and were hoping to see him get demolished.
While Marco Antonio Barrera was already considered a star by most hardcore fans, the Prince fight crossed Marco over as a recognized mainstream star. The Barrera-Morales rematch did well on pay per view because of the notoriety Marco gained from the Prince fight. I’m not saying hardcore fans weren’t intrigued by the rematch of the two warriors. I’m just saying that the pay per view numbers reflected a group of people who didn’t know about featherweights, now knew about the little guys. These people now knew that feather-weight fighters were just as entertaining as heavyweights except for the fact that they could keep up a hectic pace for all 12 rounds.
The Prince earned a six million dollar payday for his bout with Barrera and paved the way for big money fights in or around the division. No longer were featherweights relegated to undercard and late evening television. Featherweights were now the attraction.
As much as people hated his out of ring antics and arrogant attitude, The Prince was a guy you loved to hate. He brought creativity and innovation to the art of show boating. Now we have guys who talk solely about how much money they have and how their opponent is some form of ****sexual. These attempts at verbal warfare are extremely redundant and boring affairs.
What boxing is lacking today is a star that has the charisma of a Prince Hamed. We have a lot of talented fighters today but they all lack that extra spark that made guys like Ali and Hamed special. Rather than just hope that these fighters lost at some point in their careers, they made people want to see when they lost. Barrera, Morales, and Pacquiao are all some how linked to the Prince and should tip their hats to the man who paved the way to get the big paydays they so rightfully deserve.
Can you imagine the frenzy that would happen if the Prince came out of retirement to face Pacquiao? I’d pay whatever they asked for on pay per view because you know you’d be seeing not only a boxing match between two legends, but a show of epic proportions.
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