If Canelo schools Golovkin, it'll be Naseem Hamed all over again

[iamboxing]

Well, at least Naseem had the decency to stay in the ring and said the best man won, he didn't run out of the ring in a hissy fit.

[Combat Talk Radio]

I remember, I listened to it on the radio and it was about a year later if I remember right, he looked a bit lacklustre and that was that.

I saw the fight, he was in shape but you could see in his face he was going through the motions and no longer had the heart to fight. He was in arguably better shape than he was against Barrera, which is why so many people were shocked to see him go the distance with a journeyman and half try. Calvo was worse than Said Lawal.

[Zn1]

I saw the fight, he was in shape but you could see in his face he was going through the motions and no longer had the heart to fight. He was in arguably better shape than he was against Barrera, which is why so many people were shocked to see him go the distance with a journeyman and half try. Calvo was worse than Said Lawal.

Going off topic slightly, but I've seen the Barrera Nas fight a couple of times in the last 4-5 years and I still don't think he did that badly, just lacked a game plan to deal with Barrera's money punch that night, the jab. It was another fight I listened to on the radio and didn't watch till years later. I would've loved for him to be in the mix while JMM, Morales, Barrera and Pacquiao were all fighting it out for supremacy.

[Combat Talk Radio]

Going off topic slightly, but I've seen the Barrera Nas fight a couple of times in the last 4-5 years and I still don't think he did that badly, just lacked a game plan to deal with Barrera's money punch that night, the jab. It was another fight I listened to on the radio and didn't watch till years later. I would've loved for him to be in the mix while JMM, Morales, Barrera and Pacquiao were all fighting it out for supremacy.

Hamed fought all wrong to be sure, but physically he wasn't himself. He didn't train like he was supposed to because he (by his own admission) just didn't want to, he had the beef with Brendan Ingle, beef with Manny Steward, training easy in Palm Springs while Barrera trained beast out in Big Bear, partying and playing pool while laughing at Barrera's harsh training footage, the hand wraps...everything was all wrong. You could see it clearly on his face night of the fight he wasn't mentally in the right place.

What sealed it for me, and I'll never forget it, was the brief moment he looked at the rope, then just went through it instead of his trademark flip over it. Either he wasn't sure he could do it, or he didn't feel like doing it. Either meant his confidence wasn't where it needed to be. I knew right then he wasn't going to win; draw at best, loss at worst, but he wasn't winning the fight.

Naseem's career was a carefully matched one. He only really had one threat besides Barrera which was Kelley, and Kelley was already at the twilight of his career yet managed to put Naseem in danger at least twice.