Prince Naseem Hamed v Manny Pacquiao

[PecVentus]

Who was the better fighter in their prime?

Hamed later revealed in an interview, he actually had fractured his left hand during the fight. He purposely did not mention this in his post fight interviews, because he "did not want to take anything away from Barrera". Hamed and Barrera remain friends to this day.

[Bozbay]

Who was the better fighter in their prime?

Pacquiao in my opinion. But many opinions could be jolted by the whole 'PED' situation relating to Pacquiao... which can be argued for strongly

[Aztekkas]

the Prince was a special fighter in his own right, sadly after his loss, Hamed cut his own career short and we may never find out how much greatness he could have truly achieved.

Pacquiao on the other hand has seen it all and done it all. I'm not sure what your question pertains to but in over all greatness, I have to go by career and not the possibilities of a fighter who threw it all a way and what he could have been.

In short, Pacquiao.

[b00g13man]

#48 quite easily.

[SalimShady1212]

Prince Naseem is one of my all time favourite fighters but Pacquiao or any other ELITE elite fighters would have battered him.

[Johnny2x2x]

Pacquiao would overwhelm Hamed and TKO him inside 8. Pacquiao was too fast, too strong, and had a great chin.

Hamed was nothing special IMO, he fought nobodies and KOed many of them. Very similar rise to GGG, fight a bunch of zeros and create buzz by KOing them and then cash in.

Pacquiao was great at those lower weights, any great fighter was going to embarrass Hamed, that's why he avoided all of them until Barrera.

[Scott9945]

Pacquiao in my opinion. But many opinions could be jolted by the whole 'PED' situation relating to Pacquiao... which can be argued for strongly

Where is the strong argument that Pacquiao was using PED's as a featherweight? It sure wasn't discussed or even implied then.

[sunny31]

Pacquiao would overwhelm Hamed and TKO him inside 8. Pacquiao was too fast, too strong, and had a great chin.

Hamed was nothing special IMO, he fought nobodies and KOed many of them. Very similar rise to GGG, fight a bunch of zeros and create buzz by KOing them and then cash in.

Pacquiao was great at those lower weights, any great fighter was going to embarrass Hamed, that's why he avoided all of them until Barrera.

Yeah...nobodies, only a bunch of alphabet champions. I hate this misconception, its so misinformed and ignorant. He beat a lot of good/very good fighters, just not any really outstanding one's. His career is more reminiscent of Mike Tyson then Gennady Golovkin at this point. He beat everyone around his day at featherweight, and although it might not have been the strongest featherweight division we have seen, it was solid enough and he cleaned it out. He beat 9 future/present/or past world champions in a 5 year period. That along with his incredible showmanship which made 7 figure pay days possible for him and future fighters in the lower weight classes is probably why he got voted in the IBHOF this year.

He lost to Barrera comprehensively, but I always felt there was an overreaction because A - Hamed was an overwhelming favourite and often took on a villain role similar to Mayweather. B - Everyone underestimated Barrera massively, he went on to prove himself to be a first ballot HOF, and probably a ATG featherweight. Finally and this is not an excuse, but in hindsight looking back Hamed was clearly out of his prime and the motivation had wained by the time the fight happened.

[SkillspayBills]

Pac, especially in those lower weightclasses what a tornado of violence and power. Plus he had a chin. Too much speed and power for Hamed.

[Ahmed_Ismail]

Pac, especially in those lower weightclasses what a tornado of violence and power. Plus he had a chin. Too much speed and power for Hamed.

I wouldn't say he had a chin, but this version of Pacquiao would be very competetive against Prince Naseem but don't forget that Naseem had tremendous power at featherweight.
The featherweight version of Pacquiao that was training with Roach was too much for the prince. Prime vs Prime Pacquiao wins hands down.