Naseem Hamed, do you believe his reasons for quitting?

[Khabibs Tiramisu]

For those who are not familiar, the reasons stated were that he wasn't in the best conditioning for the Barrera fight and was even losing sparring badly. He didn't have the burning desire anymore, and he also had issues with his hands falling apart.

This is not a thread to discredit Naseem. He's an extremely talented boxer with great punching power and was super fun to watch. Barrerra beat him soundly though, and I still find it a bit hard to fathom why he didn't go for one last fight with with Barrerra in order to show people that he can beat him and then call it a day.

Do you think he was mentally weak and just wanted a way out? Did he fold when he found someone whom he can't bully? Or do you believe that he just didn't have the motivation to do one last fight to redeem himself? Or could it be a combination of these different factors?

What's your opinion on the matter?

 

[revoltub]

I believe him

 

[treelo]

he was bored with boxing by that point, not an excuse to why he lost, but Steward i believe said he wouldnt listen to anything, and wanted to do everything his way.

too much too soon, he earnt a LOT of money back then, and brought in a lot of yes men and hangers on

 

[SandaKicker]

There are interviews with Barry Hearn on youtube where there's talk of him coming back at super feather because he couldn't make feather anymore. Even super feather was going to be struggle at that stage.

There was more focus on the weight 2 years post Barrera than there was about his hand issues.

That said even if he wasn't gracious in victory or defeat I think the 1997 version of Hamed would have beaten Barrera, too talented.

 

[RDL81]

As I understand it he did have a lot of hand issues.

Also as others have said so much success.....walk like a champion, talk like a champion, put up your hands the prince is in the house.

lol if you know you know!

 

[Shoemaker]

Could be. That's what makes guys who can stay at the top truly special. I think being a professional would be pretty boring. It's extremely repetive work day in and day out by yourself. And at a certain point you start getting diminishing returns; it starts feeling more like maintenance than progress. And ultimately none of that work has any value itself - it only has value if you apply the lessons learned successfully a few times a year. 98% of your time is spent throwing another jab, running another mile and jumping another rope. "I wonder what's going to happen today..." nope. Situps, running and sparring are happening today. Then a small meal of chicken and an early bedtime.

Couple that with having to do it all on your own. There's no teammates who are going to walk out there with you, to motivate you when you can't motivate yourself. People can will themselves to do things when others are counting on them, even when they'd let themselves down. It's not the same in an individual sport. If you fail, you fail. If they succeed, they succeed. No one gets a ring for slacking off in special team.

 

[Jonny Ninja]

I don’t think he was mentally weak. But I do think he lost his own sense of invincibility and was never gonna be the same fighter. He looked a different fighter in his only other fight. I think he realised that he got as far as he was gonna go and quit at the right time

 

[aries]

For those who are not familiar, the reasons stated were that he wasn't in the best conditioning for the Barrera fight and was even losing sparring badly. He didn't have the burning desire anymore, and he also had issues with his hands falling apart.

This is not a thread to discredit Naseem. He's an extremely talented boxer with great punching power and was super fun to watch. Barrerra beat him soundly though, and I still find it a bit hard to fathom why he didn't go for one last fight with with Barrerra in order to show people that he can beat him and then call it a day.

Do you think he was mentally weak and just wanted a way out? Did he fold when he found someone whom he can't bully? Or do you believe that he just didn't have the motivation to do one last fight to redeem himself? Or could it be a combination of these different factors?

What's your opinion on the matter?

He didn't want it anymore. He went on record to say that he wouldn't want his children to take up boxing because it was too hard. That is not someone who is in love with the grind that is professional boxing.

 

[Corrado Soprano]

There is a documentary called ‘Little Prince, Big Fight’ which shows Hamed’s preparation for the Barrera fight. Naseem seemed more concerned with his penthouse suit at MGM, the specific leather for his gloves, and his haircut than the actual fight. He was training out of a Malibu mansion.

 

[Boxiana]

You can call it a lack of desire, but to me it was more a lack of self discipline. Just look at the state of him today.

An exciting guy to watch, but never a great because of it.

 

[aries]

You can call it a lack of desire, but to me it was more a lack of self discipline. Just look at the state of him today.

An exciting guy to watch, but never a great because of it.

Good point. He could campaign as a CW if he came back today.

 

[Stormtrooper85]

Good point. He could campaign as a CW if he came back today.

A True inspiration for Marcos Maidana

 

[aries]

A True inspiration for Marcos Maidana

Add Ricky Hatton to that as well.

 

[borntoloseNOT]

Could be. That's what makes guys who can stay at the top truly special. I think being a professional would be pretty boring. It's extremely repetive work day in and day out by yourself. And at a certain point you start getting diminishing returns; it starts feeling more like maintenance than progress. And ultimately none of that work has any value itself - it only has value if you apply the lessons learned successfully a few times a year. 98% of your time is spent throwing another jab, running another mile and jumping another rope. "I wonder what's going to happen today..." nope. Situps, running and sparring are happening today. Then a small meal of chicken and an early bedtime.

Couple that with having to do it all on your own. There's no teammates who are going to walk out there with you, to motivate you when you can't motivate yourself. People can will themselves to do things when others are counting on them, even when they'd let themselves down. It's not the same in an individual sport. If you fail, you fail. If they succeed, they succeed. No one gets a ring for slacking off in special team.

Great post.

 

[mozfonky]

I have to believe him. Probably over 90 percent of the guys in his position who retire come back, he never showed any interest.

 

[Khabibs Tiramisu]

An exciting guy to watch, but never a great because of it.

I guess this is what bothers me. We didn't get to see how great he was when the opportunity to prove that he could overcome adversity. I mean it was still a somewhat close fight and a Naseem with proper training and conditioning could win, but he chose not to fight. I was hoping that his pride would urge him to run the fight back one more time.

 

[Fatality]

I think Barrera broke him mentally and he couldn't see a way of winning the rematch so he walked away. It takes a great deal of mental fortitude for a hyper cocky/arrogant fighter like Hamed to return after getting humbled like that and Barrera took that from him.

 

[Congo66]

I think Barrera broke him mentally and he couldn't see a way of winning the rematch so he walked away. It takes a great deal of mental fortitude for a hyper cocky/arrogant fighter like Hamed to return after getting humbled like that and Barrera took that from him.

I think Barrera won the late rounds because Hamed wasn't training. It's not like it was a one sided beating, it was a comfortable win.
Ok Barrera had a point taken off him but even so, it wasn't 119-108 x3 was it.

Judge: Duane Ford 115-112
Judge: Chuck Giampa 116-111
Judge: Patricia Morse Jarman 115-112

 

[laz0001]

Training is hard. Unless you have a burning fire inside - it's probably too easy to eat poorly, train poorly

 

[loyalyolayal]

Guy was knocked down a couple of times by Kevin Kelley and had to find a way to finish it. I don't think that constitutes as mentally weak or cowardly. Guy was rich and lost the taste for fighting, that's it.