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Recently one of the major boxing publications had a special feature on the twenty greatest fighters in British history and surprisingly they ranked Naseem Hamed at number eleven right behind John Conteh. Although it is difficult to compare fighters of this era to previous eras, I firmly believe that Naseem Hamed deserves to be ranked higher.
First off, Naseem was a legitimate world champion in one of the eight traditional weight classes. He beat Steve Robinson for the WBO title in 1995, Tom Johnson for the IBF title in 97, the WBA Champion, Wilfredo Vasquez in 98, and finally Cesar Soto, the WBC champ in 99. I don’t care if Naseem relinquished those titles because in the eyes of purists, championships can only be won or lost in the ring. And the Prince didn’t lose his status as champion until 2001, nearly five and half years after he laid partial claim to the title with his victory over Robinson .
It’s kind of like the Middleweight division today. All the titles are split, but it doesn’t matter because we know Bernard Hopkins unified the title and then lost it to Jermain Taylor who hasn’t lost since. As a result boxing aficionados only recognize Taylor as the true Middleweight champion. The same thing goes for the Prince’s title reign at Featherweight. From the time he knocked out Tom Boom Boom Johnson, who was making his 13th defense of the title in 1997, until he lost to Barrera in 2001, the Prince was the best featherweight in the world. You might be able to make a case for Luisito Espinosa, who I believe in his prime would have had a good chance of beating Manny Pacquiao at 126, but the lengthy Filipino lost the title to Cesar Soto in 99 and began showing signs of deterioration as early as 98 when he struggled against Ranchero Ramirez. [details]
First off, Naseem was a legitimate world champion in one of the eight traditional weight classes. He beat Steve Robinson for the WBO title in 1995, Tom Johnson for the IBF title in 97, the WBA Champion, Wilfredo Vasquez in 98, and finally Cesar Soto, the WBC champ in 99. I don’t care if Naseem relinquished those titles because in the eyes of purists, championships can only be won or lost in the ring. And the Prince didn’t lose his status as champion until 2001, nearly five and half years after he laid partial claim to the title with his victory over Robinson .
It’s kind of like the Middleweight division today. All the titles are split, but it doesn’t matter because we know Bernard Hopkins unified the title and then lost it to Jermain Taylor who hasn’t lost since. As a result boxing aficionados only recognize Taylor as the true Middleweight champion. The same thing goes for the Prince’s title reign at Featherweight. From the time he knocked out Tom Boom Boom Johnson, who was making his 13th defense of the title in 1997, until he lost to Barrera in 2001, the Prince was the best featherweight in the world. You might be able to make a case for Luisito Espinosa, who I believe in his prime would have had a good chance of beating Manny Pacquiao at 126, but the lengthy Filipino lost the title to Cesar Soto in 99 and began showing signs of deterioration as early as 98 when he struggled against Ranchero Ramirez. [details]
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