In Defence of Prince Naseem Hamed

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Have seen a lot of criticism of Prince Naseem Hamed kicking around these boards recently and as both a Sheffield lad and a committed Naz fan felt I could not let the criticism pass without launching some sort of defence or corrective. Now the main thrust of the criticism is that Naz was all style, no substance, fought bums and lost the first time he stepped up. Whilst I obviously don’t agree with these views, they are views I can understand because it is fair to say he lost to the best fighter he faced. However I still believe this sells Naseem short and that his talent, achievements and opposition short.

Like many I am sure my exposure to Naseem came when he wrestled the European Bantamweight title away from Vincenzo Belcastro. Whilst this win is easily looked past is worth remembering Belvastro was hugely experienced and many an expert was saying this was too much too soon for Naz, predictions he made look laughable when the fight started, putting Belcastro over in the first and basically beating him as he pleased on the way to a shut out win. After adding the WBC international super bantam weight title and racking up a couple of defences he was given a shot at WBO world featherweight champion Steve Robinson. Now whilst I am not going to insult anybodies intelligence by proclaiming Robinson a great he was a genuine world champion with seven defences to his name so was clearly not the sacrificial lamb Naz’ critics would oft have you believe. Am sure we are all familiar enough with the fight to know Naz won it at a canter.

After a couple of defences, including beating the previously unbeaten Daniel Alicea Naz faced former two time world title holder Manuel Medina. Whilst this was far from his best performance Naz still had too much for Medina. Should not be overlooked that Medina went on to win versions of world titles a further three times after the Naz defeat which would suggest a decent fighter with plenty left in the tank at the time of the Naz defeat. After one further defence Naz faced IBF champion Tom Johnson finishing him in 8 rounds to unify two of the featherweight belts. After a few more defences including a stunning win over well respected contender Jose Badillo and his thrilling US debut over Kevin Kelley, Naz faced Wilfredo Vazquez. Until recently Wilfredo had been WBA champion, a title he never lost in the ring but was stripped of it for choosing to meet Naseem. As with so many others Vazquez was despatched before the final bell, meaning but for politics Naz would not have annexed three of the four belts. Would probably be fair to say Johnson and Vazquez may have seen slightly better days but they were world champions and far from the walking corpses some would have you believe.

Further defences against the teak tough Wayne McCullough and future world champion Paul Ingle led to yet another unification against Cesar Soto, a fight Naz yet again won, but unusually did have to go the distance to do. This would have meant that but for politics Naz would have unified all four major belts, a feat that even now is not particularly common. For me when one considers the number of champions Naz beat such as Soto, Johnson and Vazquez and the number of former or future champions such as McCullough, Ingle and Bungu I simply cannot accept Naz’ opposition was as poor as it is often portrayed. For me they were the best the division had to offer, and we can ask little more of a champion than this.
However all this is not to say Naseem’s career is exempt from criticism. The performance and preparation for Barrera was obviously inexcusable and him leaving the sport with a whimper at an age where he was young enough to come back obviously leaves a lot to be desired. However for me at his best he was brilliant, unorthodox, quick handed, difficult to hit clean and with chilling power in each hand. Even my levels of nuthuggery will fall short of proclaiming him an all time great but at his best he poses anyone some questions and his abilities and opposition deserve better than they are often given on here.

Agreed, Ghosty. Myth would have you believe that Naz lost a comprehensive shut-out, in fact it has gone so far that to this day I still hear more casual fans say Hamed was sparked out...but it was indeed pretty close, though a clear enough win for Barrera, and a great deal more focus beforehand from Hamed may well have changed that.

I thought 112-115 was generous to Naz (think one card also had it 111-116. MAB also had a point deducted for roughhousing which would have had it 112-116 at worst and 111-117.

I dont think he was "battered" as some say but it was a comprehensive defeat where one could probably only give him a few rounds overall.

Not really disagreeing, GeorgeHotel 1895. As I said, Winstone could very possibly have beaten Naz, think you were right to bring that up. Just highlighting that if I was offered a choice between having Winstone's career or Hamed's, I'd pick Hamed's without any hesitation.

Now it seems that it is open season on Hamed's personality! It does seem to be a big deal to us lot.Froch is derided for his charmless persona, even in U.S. publications,Khan gets treated like he is a murderer,the list goes on.
Now I never liked the rougher edges to Hamed either, but just to redress the balance and show that everyone has their good and bad, a friend of mine met him at a charity event once, Hamed changed in the same room with the "commoners" ,and was approachable and polite to all, was what I heard.

Andy on a similar subject was speaking to someone the other day who had a similar experience. He was raising money for a charity event and went to Naz' house to see if he would contribute and he gave him a pair of signed gloves and signed shorts. Said he could not have been more accomodating.

Reading some of the (excellent) posts on this thread I think Naz should be changing his nickname from Prince to Marmite ;-)

I can understand why people never warmed to Naz or began to distance themselves with his outlandish and disparaging remarks – his callousness really did lack class at times. But the simple fact IMO, is that Naz was a tremendously gifted fighter and he was compulsive viewing – from the ring entrance to the fight I couldn’t wait. With his extremely unorthodox style and quick, heavy hands it was edge-of-the-seat stuff. At the time I thought Naz would beat MAB but what disappointed me more was Naz’s retreat rather than the actual defeat itself. It was a bitter end rather than the career set back and wake up call is should have been.

Alas, we are where we are and I will always have fond memories watching the Prince.

Welcome aboard, Dinamita.

Ditto, Dinamita. I like to revisit some old Naz fights (and entrances) now and again.

Agree with Windy, wanted nothing moer than for him to fall over when entering the ring and get beat up. When both happend I actually felt sad.

I think he had all the potential and probably had reached it but it was problems with his hands and too much money that meant he no longer had the hunger.

Maybe we should either refer to Naz as prime Naz (unbeatable supehero) and Naz (overated bum) depending upon the discussion. If using the 'prime' version you have to end every sentence with FACT.

alma wrote:

I agree largely with this, but my issue with Hamed (aside from how dislikable I found him as a human being) was that he a) belittled clearly inferior opponents whom he shouldn't have been in the ring with and b) for me although he did seem happy to fight GOOD opponents, I always got the impression he didn't want to face the VERY best. For example I remember him being interviewed ringside at a fight and he announced that he was fighting an over the hill Junior Jones. When challenged on this he said rather defensively "Well he did beat Barrera twice". There was no mention of actually fighting Barrera at this stage who was P4P. He was happy to pick up the belts fighting the weaker opponents and ultimately when he did eventually fight a P4Per in Barrera, he could not or would not change his strategy to pull out a victory. Pure power had got him out of gaol against Kelley but it was never going to work against Barrera.

I would refer you to my earlier thread regarding re-writing history. Naz was destined to become a bantamweight title holder. He was able to make bantamweight right up to the Barrera match, and his ring weight was a career high of 129lbs. After his brilliant demolition of teak tough gatekeeper Belcastro nobody at bantamweight wanted to know. Naz elected to try super bantamweight, and Warren was desperate to get Vazquez, Bungu or Sanchez into the ring, but all made it very obvious that they aint fighting a young, gifted southpaw. Barrera was the pick of the bunch, and he had Warren's WBO strap to boot. Warren tried everything to get this fight on, but team Barrera made it obvious that they were not interested in a risk such as that for thier young charge (look how long it took team Barrera to sort out fighting Morales).
Naz was part of the who needs him crowd, until he got a belt and the serious cash rolled in. Barrera only took the shot and moved to Featherweight when he had nothing left to lose, having been beaten three times and regarded by most as having been a fringe top tier fighter who was past his best.

Excellent post Bob would also add in the fights running up to the Barrera fight Naz had shown signs of vulnerability and was is probably hindsight to say this but was regressing as a fighter, was getting caught far more oftan than he had in the Belcastro days. Have to think this made him a far more appealing foe, because as you rightly say on the back of the Belcastro fight there was hardly a queue to get to him.

In fact at his best the only guy who made massive noise about facing Naz was Derrick Gainer and he was so inconsistent he made Danny Williams looks a safe bet.

Excellent post????....Should imagine a defence against Naz would,ve been very lucrative for Sanchez, Bungu etc...

Did Warren tell you that????

If you are natural bantam then sooner or later you're going to get a shot at a belt aren't you..

So you rise two weights above you're best instead??

and he's re-writing history...

At bantam Naz was nowhere near the draw he was to become Truss, would have made money but as it would have also resulted in your title leaving you in double quick time was hardly enough to justify it.

How do you know???? if he never won a title there...

If you are a big bantam why risk going to 126...

Even Fenech started at 118.....

Just don't buy it..if he was a big bantam then you clear up.

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:How do you know???? if he never won a title there...

If you are a big bantam why risk going to 126...

Even Fenech started at 118.....

Just don't buy it..if he was a big bantam then you clear up.

Naz languished in the bantamweight/super bantamweight top five for over a year, with no sign of a title shot.

You're right, Naz could have cleaned up had he stuck around, but the Robinson fight offered him a shortcut and a chance at being Britain's youngest post war champion (which Warren thought would be a great PR piece)

Couple that with the fact that the Belcastro fight brought it's own set of problems. Naz had to undergo a strict 6 week training camp to make 118 and be able to perform. Naz hated this, and bitched about not being able to eat mama Hamed's curries. Ingle and Warren agreed for him to fight at 122lbs in return for leeway on his diet and training, and then Robinson proved irresistable.

alma wrote:Yeah not sure I believe anything Frank Warren says, particularly after his comments post DeGale/Groves.

Not a case of Warren saying anything. I know quite a lot about Naz because I'm a local lad, whose brother was at Ingle's gym in the late nineties, and one of my mates was involved in training Naz.

I am a huge admirer of Howard Winstone, but feel that a couple of points are worth mentioning in a Naz/Winstone connection. One - Saldivar was a true great, better than anything Naz ever faced, but he wasn't a KO artist. The only time Howard really faced anyone answering that description was a journeyman called Leroy Jeffrey, who blitzed Winstone in two rounds. Hamed, whatever his other flaws, is the second hardest hitting featherweight in history, in all probability (after only Saddler). Winstone would have to have boxed the full distance without making a single mistake.

Did he hit hard enough to keep Naz off all evening? Got to say that I slightly doubt it. Could see a huge points lead being wiped out with a single blow, personally.

As to Hamed overall, he's just about top ten all-time from the UK for me. Made himself the lineal champ at 126 by beating every other contender with something to spare. Reigned in that capacity for more than three years. In Bungu, beat a man voted by South Africans as their third greatest fighter ever. Beat Johnson, Kelley, Medina (who would win a belt afterwards), Vazquez and a host of other good names. The manner of his exit from the sport means that he isn't ranked top five in the UK all-time charts for me, but, however disappointing the ending may have been, his career is a great one by British standards at least. It could have been so much more, but credit where it's due.

He's a natural bantamone minute ...and then he needs a strict 6 week cycle to make the weight...

Make your mind up.

and ghosty can you imagine if he trained, eat, focused and slept properly, instead of staying up all hours, partying and clubbing (which he was seen doing regularly before the fight). i think on his death bed naz will have a few regrets.

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:He's a natural bantamone minute ...and then he needs a strict 6 week cycle to make the weight...

Make your mind up.

Well, Hatton was 157lbs in the ring against Tszyu. Do you class him as a natural middleweight?

Smokescreening..