The Case For Hamed (from 606)

Hamed was an outrageously talented fighter who transcended boxing with his extroverted big punching style. He provided us with some wonderfully entertaining fights and in his heyday generated a Tysonesque aura of invincibility: so much so that he went into the Barrera fight as a massive favourite.

In terms of achievement he reigned as featherweight champion for *5 years* holding WBO, IBF and WBC versions of the title and would surely have been undisputed champion if it were not for the alphabet boys' nonsense.

Importantly, a large proportion of his opponents were world class and had winning records before and after facing him.

After being dominated by Hamed, Vincenzo Belcastro lost a SD for IBF super flyweight title and regained the Euro title. Despite being humiliated by Hamed, Steve Robinson regained Euro title and became a winning fighter again. Although he lost to Naz, Medina beat Kevin Kelley and won WBO feather title. Tom Johnson held IBF title over 4 years before being destroyed by Hamed. Kevin Kelley, a former World champ and renowned world class fighter, was KO'd by Hamed in a wild brawl. Another great scalp, for Hamed, is that of Wilfredo Vasquez: reigning WBA feather champion (5 defences) and former WBA super bantam champ (9 defences) and not forgetting Paul Ingle who went on to win IBF featherweight title.