Just how good was Prince Naseem?

[rudy]

U are correct and on another note, for Barrea fans one thing I admire about Hamed, punching power, heart towards the end of his career became a mini mike tyson just looking for the power shots but not techique yet even in losing it was credible performance as he never got stopped or looking for a way out as Marco Antiono Barrea when Pacman upped the gears on hims. He would have smashed Scott Harrison to bits , Warren and Maloney know, remember he wiped out Michael Brodie in 1 round whereas he took InJin Chi over twenty rounds to 15 rounds to dispose of him.

Great fighter who liked Tyson changed the sport for a while, yes I saw him live

[J !]

rudy he never fougHt brodie, do you mean billy hardy?

brodie has never been ko'd in a round and never fought naz.

[LuKahnLi]

When Naz fought Johnson, it was Kelley who was considered the best featherweight in the world. When Naz got around to fighting Kelley, it was Luisito Espinosa and Alejandro Gonzalez who were the best fighters in the world. He stayed clear of the top tier. On their own, Kelley, Medina and Johnson were decent though.

[J !]

sorry mate thats bull. if he did that he would never have taken on barerra who is five times the fighter of any of those names you have just mentioned.
Naz was the name not espinosa.

jeez i doubt half the people on here have even heard of espinosa.
theres only so many defences a year the man can make and looking at Naz record he fought 90% of the top feathers of his day.
Naz was the man in the niniteies no doubt in my mind anyway!

i cant belive im arguing for Naz i cant stand him

[abdiel2k3]

His loss to Barrera wasn't that bad, as he was atleast competitive.

wtf?
are we talkin about Prince Naseem Hamed?
you thought he was competitive in that fight
that was one of barreras best performance and was enhanced by the fact that it was also one of Nas's worse performances
but i assure you
he was not competitve in that fight

[LuKahnLi]

sorry mate thats bull. if he did that he would never have taken on barerra who is five times the fighter of any of those names you have just mentioned.
Naz was the name not espinosa.

jeez i doubt half the people on here have even heard of espinosa.
theres only so many defences a year the man can make and looking at Naz record he fought 90% of the top feathers of his day.
Naz was the man in the niniteies no doubt in my mind anyway!

i cant belive im arguing for Naz i cant stand him

Barrera was a 122 lber when Naz challenged him. Oh Naz was so brave. Who was favored to win that one again? Wasn't it 3 to 1 in Naz's favor. NOBODY except those who picked Barrera thought Naz was taking a huge risk.

If nobody here knows who Espinosa was that is their dammn problem. He WAS significant. He beat Manuel Medina, Cesar Soto, Kennedy McKinney AND Alejandro Gonzalez during his time at featherweight. He WAS one of the men to beat at featherweight when Naz supposedly ruled it. Naz wouldn't fight Gonzalez, Espinosa OR even Freddie Norwood.

[JOM'S]

as always you make some valid points that make me think, i do enjoy sparring with you.

maybe i do react so much due to some of the opinions I hear flaoted around that ar ea bit OTT, perhaps I am being too much in the opposite direction I dunno.

I did guive the close rounds to marquez but I assure you I was totally impartial, I know that as a big fan cant possibly be (please dont take that as a criticisim I am the same aobut my favourite fighters) its totally natural.

It is indeed tragic if that situation is ongoing mayube I undersatand the slight hint of bitterness towards Naz, I have the same regarding him messing aorund Michael Brodie for 18 months.

fair enough as always Jomapac, respect to you and your opinions think we've done this one for now

Fair is Fair JPW and I think you are a gentleman and I know you have good points thats why I feel the need to defend my cause & my man with you....

But have to add that I am not really bitter about Naz just could not fully give him what is due him, coz of that big question I have in my mind, what if he fought my champ...

Whats the story regarding Naz messing with Broadie???

[JOM'S]

Barrera was a 122 lber when Naz challenged him. Oh Naz was so brave. Who was favored to win that one again? Wasn't it 3 to 1 in Naz's favor. NOBODY except those who picked Barrera thought Naz was taking a huge risk.

If nobody here knows who Espinosa was that is their dammn problem. He WAS significant. He beat Manuel Medina, Cesar Soto, Kennedy McKinney AND Alejandro Gonzalez during his time at featherweight. He WAS one of the men to beat at featherweight when Naz supposedly ruled it. Naz wouldn't fight Gonzalez, Espinosa OR even Freddie Norwood.

Lu, I do agree with you here that Espinosa was really a significant fighter and beat all those top guys, but Hamed was the top money man during that time as JPW have said Naz is the Name, everybody was after him....

And I have to add that Naz also won't fight JMM the avoided one...

[m00ks]

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.

Wow, you didn't just say that. You gonna honestly tell me that an off balance, hands dropping Prince would have such an easy time against Pac. If a 30 year old Kelley dropped him three times, how the hell can you count out Pacquiao that easy. Naseem Hamed beat guys with his speed, reflexes, and strength. You should watch more Pac fights to realize that this guy posseses all of those qualities and can very much compete with a prime Naz. The kid isn't even in his prime himself. Prince was good, but nothing more. His notable wins, featured victories over older guys or the ones lacking talent and defense. Prime this prime that is all bull**** statement because you could never tell what can happen in a match.

Barrera looked faded because Pac MADE him looked faded. The guy was coming off a win against Morales, Hamed, Tapia and Kelley. He was still a very strong competitor. Watch the first round of that fight and MAB was even doing well. All went downhill when Pac's left broke through and dropped him. THAT is when he faded. He got outtoughed, outworked outpowered plain and simple. Few people even gave Pac a chance before the fight, he beats Barrera convincingly and Oh! all of the sudden MAB was faded. Pfffffff...

As for the JMM match, when he outboxed Pac rounds 3-8 people got ****** into the hype of the comeback. No one actually noticed that some of those rounds we're actually close and that Pac rallied in the end to take some of the late rounds. It's all to fuel the drama.

Pac has tons to prove and I can fully understand why a lot of people are still sceptic about his abilities. Simply he hasn't doen enough. But I mean comee onn. Cut him a little slack and don't brush off his accomplishments. The kid deserves it.

[m00ks]

mate no disrespect but 5 rounds for Pac? Try the first (which was erroneously scored 10-7 the 2nd and the tenth. thats it mate)

that was all he won five round where did you get five rounds from?

watch the fight again and truthfully tell me pacquio won five seperate rounds.

lets look then score it 10-6 first round, he won another two rounds that gives pac 111 - Marquez won the rest apart from what was stated = 114

If pacquio is som amazing he should have dealt with marquez comfortably. but he didnt.

Im not a naz fan a marquez in fact more than anything a pacquio fan, but really this constant over estimation of his deeds to date and what he may yet do are getting a bit much for me.

so far he has done nothing other than beat an aging barerra and luckily escape with a draw at featherwight hardly the makings of a future legend is it....

Sorry mate I do respect you and your views and I enjoy talking to you but its a bit much at present!!!

ill bew eager to give him credit when and where its due but at the moment he is being well overhyped.

I saw the fight 8-9 times. gave Pac 1-2, 9-10, 12. 3-8, 11 for Marquez. HOW you didn't score the 9th for Pacquiao boggles the mind. Marquez' shots were getting blocked or missing, Pacquiao continued to press, he was landing clearer than Marquez. He was getting back his rythm back. Heck Merchant even said he was outboxing Marquez in that round. 11-12 we're close rounds as neither guy did anything crazy to steel teh rounds. I gave them both a round a piece.

This "overestmation" comes from fans who saw him grow and improve from flyweight on. Having seen the guy overcome adversities and tough opponents gives us an idea of teh potential he posseses. It is not clear to everyone else as they haven't seen much fight from him to be convinced. Us however have, and for the rest, well all in due time.