Just how good was Prince Naseem?

[JOM'S]

did he beat soto? when?

yeah, Sotto got a gimme and stole the belt from Espinosa...

then against Hamed, I heard Sotto was to protective got beaten in a clinch fest???

I could not rate Hamed fairly, so I will not, but the one fight I wanted to see before was an Espinosa-Hamed, I could at least rate the Prince if that fight happened....

But overall Hamed was the MAIN MAN during that time and Espinosa loss his ticket to stardom or at least the biggest pay check out there for him...

[anthetamine]

naz was amazing., he wasnt at his best against barrera and i think he would have eaten him alive if they fought at naz's prime

he slipped against kevin kelly, i dont want to hear nothing bad said against him otherwise i will be upset

[tony]

Naz was at least an 8 out of 10. It's easy to dislike him because he was so ****y but you can't argue with his talent. He had phenomenal KO power for his weight and from the angles he threw his punches. I just don't know where he got the leverage from... I think Barrera solved the riddle with him though. Naz was a counter puncher. Barrera forced him to be offensive and outpointed him. Plus, Naz always traded on his reflexes, often having his hands down by his waist. By the time he fought Barrera his reflexes had dulled. He got knocked all over the place that night.

[m00ks]

It was in 1999 I believe.

Nobody's mentioned Steve Robinson on his resume who was a very good world champ who beat Colin McMillan & Duke McKenzie (both former champs, at 3 weights in McKenzie's case).

I gave him a 9 based on what I thought were his best years, leading up to the Robinson fight and for a couple years after.

I remember listening to Barry McGuigan commentating on his fights and stating that he even thought the Prince would have beaten him, which gives some indication as to how good he was.

Robinson had a **** record though

[Cletus Funk]

Robinson had a **** record though

That he did, but he had a lot of defeats towards the end and a few right at the start which tainted it a bit.

Anyone who saw him fight will tell you how good he was as champ. I think he made 7/8 defences against mainly decent opposition with 2 or 3 big scalps.

[jujitsujn]

Hamed would never beat Pac. Thats just nuts.

[Guest]

Thanks for the thoughts, all of you. It seems he's held in pretty high regard by most, even those who dislike his personality. Though this board seems fairly low on "haters" anyway, so maybe that influences the reactions.

The only time I've seen Naz fight was as part of a documentary of the Barrera match, "The Little Prince, The Big Fight". It showed him concerned less over the bout, more over his ego. It seemed to suggest he'd effectively beaten himself, particularly one scene where he was so out of practise he kept missing in sparring... and just treated it as a joke.

If he was at his peak, would he have still been at the top today?

[J !]

He was scared of PBF....end of discussion..

hows that then floyd wasnt even a pro when hamed was at the beginning of his peak. And they didnt even fight at the same weight. (GFloyd was champ at super feather not feather)
ridiculous statment END OF DISCUSSION.

[J !]

Hamed would never beat Pac. Thats just nuts.

prime naz smacks the **** out of pac im afraid inside 5.
You go toe to toe with the Prince ytou lose, he hit harder than pac at feather.

Barerra showed the way to beat hamed frsutrate him box him and keep him at arms length pacquio doesnt have the boxing skills to do that.

Pacquio despiute his adulation on this board has proved very little at featherweight, he beat a faded barerra well, and los agianst tmarquez after having his man in the first.( even though it was a draw I had marquez by two rounds)
not a pac hater think the guy is great but some of you guys need a reality check.

[markosg19]

in the same way that mike tyson came along in 86 and peaked by 88 i think naz peaked by 1998/9 and he only came onto the world scen in 95. He started to beleive his own hype and allowed his weight to balloon in between fights.

The begining of the end was when he hired his brother to become his manger and set up his own promotion company. He then saw himself as his own boss and started to beglect the boxing side of things.

But i think he pound for pound one of the hardest punchers in history and possibly the hardest featherweight puncher of all time.