Naz couldn't even muster doing his top rope somersault that night. At first he motioned like he was gonna do it, but somehow he couldn't...lol. He knew he was going up against the real deal.
Naz couldn't even muster doing his top rope somersault that night. At first he motioned like he was gonna do it, but somehow he couldn't...lol. He knew he was going up against the real deal.
I dont think he was lacking confidence, if anything he just became arrogant and felt indestructable, so he got humbled.
People who know about the "Prince" will know he was far from his best when he met Barrera in the ring. After parting with Brendan Ingle and joining Oscar Suarez and Manny Steward, his style had been changed to such an extent that he lost most of his illusiveness and accuracy; his feet were more planted, he threw wide, crazy shots. Plus he lost his desire to train hard, and eventually lost his desire to fight with the large amount of money he made out of the game; he'd been there, done it. Barrera was in his prime, trained hard, and was out to prove a point to the world after his controversial loss to Morales.
I'v always believed that a prime Naz of 96-97 would beat Barrera in a tough fight, maybe even a war. With his illusive speed, movement and footwork, off-balance, unorthodox style, and devastating punching power coming from awkward angles, I think he would eventually TKO Marco in the later rounds. Plus, at this stage he was taking the fight game seriously; training with Brendan Ingle, and training hard. He also had something to prove at this stage. Not to mention Barrera was offered the fight by Frank Warren in 96, 98, and again by Naz in 2000 when he fought Augie Sanchez; and he turned the fight down each time; as did many other top ranked super bantam, and feather weights, including the rival champions.
Hamed was undefeated and def not old,so in his prime,Barrera was just that good and Hamed always was flawed,if his prime was when he get dropped twice by Kevin Kelley then yes,Barrera still beat him.
NAZ's sub-Elite (and I mean it) boxing style was tailor made for a true Elite boxer like MAB so MAB beats him everyday of the week and twice on Sundays prime-for-prime.
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