As Doc correctly stated, Naz had a God given talent, he had moves that you couldn't learn in any gym - he just had them naturally.
I think Naz was overcome by his alter-ego.... His confidence in himself and his own ability was mind blowing.... The entance into the ring by way of 'flying carpet' pays testamony to that.
I doubt Manny had much influence on Naz, I can't see Naseem paying too much attention to anybody, we are talking about a guy that paid $25,000 to fly his barber to Las Vegas for a last minute 'trim' of his haircut!
I think once Barrera beat him... He just couldn't be bothered anymore, especially as the press were hounding him about the loss...
Doc,
Manny didn't ruin Naz, Naz ruined Naz. A fighter can only hide a fragile chin so long before it is exposed, example Roy Jones, Zab Judah, Julian Jackson and Amir Khan. I think that the one thing that you can say is that Manny had Naz sit down on his punches more which may have taken away from his overall ability to move around the ring and avoid certain shots. The whole getting punched and Naz's head looking like it was on a swivel, well, that was all Naz.
Naz was a good fighter, he had a gimmick (being arrogant, long ring entrances etc,etc,etc) but everyone who watched the Barrera fight saw how Naz was exposed as a good fighter trying to be a great fighter. The straighter shots prevailed and the overall ring generalship prevailed. A fighter can't fake that or use smoke and mirrors.
There's a huge difference in beating a marque fighter who was well past his prime like Kevin Kelly as opposed to Barrera. Naz looked great against Kelly because Kelly was shot and still managed to put together a good show with Naz. Kelly was coming off wars with Troy Dorsey that helped shorten his career and make Naz look a little more special than he actually was.
Naz a good fighter that Manny tried fixing, but that's about it.
I am not a big Manny fan but he did not ruin Naz . Naz was never that good of a fighter to begin with. I hate hearing people say he had a weak chin he was undefeated for a long time some one had to hit him on the chin before he got knocked out. This is the one time it was not Manny's fault.
I think manny stewart is just trying to make naz a better fighter but i heard many times that naz doesnt want to listen...He wants to do it his way...I also think he has a lot of flows as a fighter, its true he is very hard to hit but those guys that tries to hit him are not even a great fighter...Im a fan of naz since he was about 10 fights...When he fought kelly, he was struggling...He won the fight, but if you really look at the talent level of kelly...He was not even great...And your right he was flat footed in this fight maybe because i heard a lot of rumors that he went lazy...He doesnt want to practice, he doesnt want to listen to manny...He wants to do it on his own, so missed up...I think naz destroyed his great talent because of his ego and laziness...
hamed was one of the best natural fighters of all time....even ali had to train harder to look that good....hamed s decline started prior to steward and steward couldnt really help that late in his career...a dedicated hamed could have acheived infinately more.....barreras victory looks good because he beat hamed when hamed was at his worst mentally...hameds weakness was more mental than physical...he seeemed to win fights when he wanted and lose when he wanted....if you watch the barerra fight again youll see that hamed was never in danger of being koed and he knew that- you can see from his body language and facial expression...hamed was beaten mostly because his mind wasnt all there....the build up to the fight is full of clues...right up to the ring entrance and the failure to jump the top rope and last minute hand wrap changes...then the religious stuff...never taken to that level before...seems hamed was preparing to bow out...contrast this with how he seemed mentally before the bungu fight...despite all this barrera didnt really do a number on him...it just looked really bad...barrera scored no kds...never had hamed in any danger and was extreamly careful for the whole fight....he fought mostly back footed with his gloves always high up (uncharacteristically) and was so scared of hamed that he didnt dare go in for the ko/finish.... imho i believe a focused hamed would have finished barerra within 8 even in 2001 or in a rematch and certainly in the 1990x when barerra was being schooled by jones.
i was a massive manny steward fan but he worked best tall fighters and Naz wasn't tall .
before steward naz was an elusive boxer always on his toes and very hard to hit then he became a pure puncher when he joined steward ,he lost what made him special the fact he was so hard to hit ,there's a sharpe decline in hamed once he leaves brendan ingle (who also trained herol graham , a defencive master) and heads off to america .
i'm aware that manny americans never got to see the young naz that beat steve robinson only the flat footed fighter that had a war with kelly and got beat by barrera .
so could naz of been as good as he said he was if he had a trainer that worked with naz's style rather than try to change him.
