Why was Barrera able to beat Naseem Hamed so easily?

[TripleGFightFan]

I knew Barrera wouldn't be a cakewalk for Hamed after watching Barrera Vs Morales 3 times...after those fights...I said to myself "these guys are ****ing warriors"...Barrera is an all out Assassin a Warrior that's why...he fights like his life depends on it and can box on top of that...

[KnockoutKings]

Aside from the obvious that Marco was just a better boxer, Hamed let the fame get to his head. Dude was living the life. Was a Jay Leno, did things like rented out Bugsy Seigel's mansion just to train, and didn't even train properly like in the past. If you notice, he doesn't even do his signature ring flip into the ring. He lost the fight even before he go into the ring.

[Real King Kong]

In short...barrera was a vastly superior fighter. What i remember sticking out was barrera owned the outside foot position and kept turning hamed, he used his jab beautifully and followed up with punches when hamed was off balance. He really dictated the tempo and distance for most of the fight, not to mention out muscling hamed too...it was a really good performance all around from mab, one of his best wins for sure.

[deathofaclown]

It's a well known fact Hamed's hands were completely shot by that point and he wasn't even training. He hardly trained at times because he didn't like being away from his wife and kids, despite all his "arrogance" and persona, he was very much a family man. It was well known before the fight he come into camp overweight and hardly trained so he wasn't losing the weight and had to drain himself badly. He just wasn't motivated anymore either.

That's not to take anything away from MAB, he was a great fighter of course but if that fight happened two years earlier, it would have been a completely different type of fight. I'm sure Barrera still had the boxing skills to get a win anyway, but i wouldn't be so sure.

A lot of people seem to dislike Hamed or try to play down his talent. A prime Hamed was an a great fighter. P4P one of the hardest punchers in the history of the sport. I think Emmanuel Steward said he was p4p by far the hardest puncher he's ever worked with. That was a big reason his hands were done even before he fought Barrera, his hands actually couldn't deal with the power in his shots.

Anyway, whatever anybody thinks of him, nobody can deny he was exciting and brought a lot of attention to weight divisions like Featherweight.

[Redd Foxx]

He used his assets against him. When a guy like Nas moves awkwardly like that you can end up letting him dictate the fight. He makes you uncertain of your punches, your defense, etc. You're a step behind him.

Barrera used fundamentals, timing, and assertiveness to leave Nas with little to fall back on in terms of a plan B.

[Earl-Hickey]

This is weak.

Barrera would have beaten Hamed either way you look at it. All this crap about motivation is a passive aggressive way of saying Hamed was the superior fighter. Such a load. Barrera had way more skills and beat him easily then and would have beaten easily before Hamed so called didn't take the sport seriously anymore. Stop making excuses for guys when they get schooled.

Tyson fury got dropped by Cunningham and saved by the Bell against pajcic and firtha

At the time he was not taking the sport seriously

His uncle read him the riot act and told him to retire if he wasn't going to take the sport seriously

He then beat wladimir klitschko who is "technically superior" using his awkwardness and unorthodox style

I'm not saying barerra doesn't beat a fully focused hamed beats barerra because I don't know who wins that because it never happened.

[SunSpace]

Hamed is the most visually impressive boxer I've ever seen in my life. I don't know how he came up with that style, but it worked, and he was a MONSTER.

[b00g13man]

He had far superior fundamentals. There isn't more to it really.

[soul_survivor]

What was it about Barrera that gave Hamed so much trouble in their fight?

I'm talking mainly from a STYLE point of view though, not some "Barrera's family just died and his wife is in the ER from a mysterious illness that will only be cured by a decisive victory in his next big fight, which made him an unstoppable force" type of reasoning

Barrera was highly skilled and motivated with a great jab.

Hamed was always a very unusual fighter with an unorthodox style which depended largely on his exceptional reflexes and power. He couldn't use his power because his hands were done by that stage. His reflexes had dulled because physically he was not in the best shape. Plus he just wasn't motivated anymore.

Having said all that, the fight was hardly easy. It was close, Barrera won by 2 or so points and never really got going. Both guys were barely throwing 30 punches per round.

[hugh grant]

Barrera is a better fighter. Named had power and wanted to take Barrera out. Pac beat Barrera shows how great pac is. Barrera was no 1 or 2 p4p at the time.

But Ahmed's hands were gone were they? So I'm sure Ahmed would have done better if his hands were good. But Barrera best fighter Ahmed ever fought so was going to have trouble anyway