If Naz had retired earlier

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Following on from another thread.

If Naz had retired before Barrera on the basis that he had cleaned our the division and had nothing left to prove would he have gone done as one of the best ever?

He would have retired unbeaten at 27 years old with a record of 35 wins with 31 KO's.

There wouldn't have been any questions about who he had ducked as he had beaten everyone.

On paper he would have been challenging Jimmy Wilde as the best of British and possibly up there as a top 20-30 ATG.

What are your thoughts on this?

I do not think Naz was at his best for the Barrera fight tbh I think he took him lightly not many thought Barrera would win I think Naz thought the same and believed he would win easily. If Naz was at his best I reckon he knocks Barrera out too much power for him but we will never know coz Naz retired. Seems such a waste.

Nico the gman wrote:I'm sure a 3 weight world champion is more than capable of changing tactics before or during the fight.

Like Chavez, Mosley or Pacquiao?

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:I'd have favored Barrera but the fact of the matter is...116-112 isn't a shutout!!!

However his heart didn't seem to be in it and like Curry he was gunshy when he came back..

When I think back to Hamed, that's the nail on the head Truss, his heart wasn't in it.

Not sure how much he was training but he seemed to fade away around the McCullough fight and trouble with Ingle surfaced. After that, he wasn't using what good skills he did have. Seemed happy just to stand there swinging with huge shots rather than box for angles and break people down.

Obvious exception being the Bungu fight when he seemed switched on again.

I do think he would have lost a rematch to MAB purely because there was no sign of him having the desire to find his old form.

As a counter to this, I can appreciate the argument that his form left him when he stepped up in class and was "found out", however, I believe this is reflective of the desire going since becoming a rich man and the ego that must generate.

With regards to retirement before MAB, would have been very poor for his credibility.

He needed that huge fight on his record to have a chance of being considered a modern great. Unfortunately by that stage in his career, he simply wasn't in the right state to take the opportunity and MAB picked up a well deserved scalp.

Bob wrote:

Nico the gman wrote:I'm sure a 3 weight world champion is more than capable of changing tactics before or during the fight.

Like Chavez, Mosley or Pacquiao?

Like all great fighters, Leonard Duran prime example.

What would Naz have done differently in a rematch with Barrera Waingro? He was looking for the big knockout punch for most of the fight and I think that was his best chance of a win. I couldn't see any different result in the rematch.

Well, you'd like to think he'd have used the skills that bought him all of his success in the first place, i.e. combination punching as opposed to the one shot KO attempts that he began almoste exclusively throwing in the latter part of his career.

Whether he still had the desire, drive and determination to revert to that fighting style that made him such a phenom in his earlier career is another question - possibly not, however I am in the camp that believes that a Hamed of a couple of years previous does get the win over Barrera, though he never finds it easy by any means.

He couldnt hit Barrera on the chin in the first fight .|He had no second plan.Mab bullied him
He wouldn't fight him again and I can see no other game plan for him or any other result.
Naz was a legend in his own mind and Barrera exposed him for what he was .
A good champion but not great and hugely flawed mentally

He lost one fight beat Kelley, Johnson etc ...and he was mentally flawed ......hugely!!!

Exaggeration......He was a confidence fighter for sure but not hugely flawed mentally....Got up off the deck to win a few times..

A good fighter yes, a great fighter no.

He was a British great...

Yes I suppose he was, doesn't make him an ATG though!!

Nope...

I meant that a fighter who cant take a defeat is hugely flawed .He effectively retired after Barrera
Specially one who is compared here to Jimmy Wilde and lost to the only world class fighter he fought

I think he lost his desire....

Definitely lost his desire, before the Barrera fight too.

Did you see the documentary, think it was Little Prince big fight, he was too concerned with being a vip and having a fancy hotel. Money got him.