Naseem Hamed lit up the featherweight division like no other British fighter ever did, and “Prince” Naz, although a loser in the biggest fight of his thrilling career – against Mexican great Marco Antonio Barrera – ranks as one of the best British fighters of recent years. Today long since retired (and carrying so much weight he is almost unrecognisable from the sleek and lethal 126-pound puncher he was in the 1990s/early 2000s) Hamed remains a fight fan.
Like just about anybody with even a slight interest in boxing, Hamed has an opinion on this Saturday’s massive Gennady Golovkin-Kell Brook middleweight title showdown. And Naz says he feels Brook will go one better than himself and actually win the biggest fight of his career. Hamed tips his fellow Sheffield fighter to win – and then go on to become known as the greatest British fighter ever.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=al85r812kNc
“I think Brook can box a very clever fight and use straight shots to get the victory,” Hamed told Sky Sports News HQ. “He needs to watch Ray Leonard against Marvin Hagler because that fight is the key to him winning this one. GGG is a great boxer but he hasn’t got the ability that Kell has – Brook is the far superior boxer. Kell can be the biggest superstar in boxing and the best British fighter ever if he can overcome Golovkin. He needs to be ready for 12 rounds of relentless pressure and be able to absorb it. More importantly, he needs to avoid a lot of it and slow down the fight with his brilliant jab.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nU5bdhLFIfM
Sound advice indeed, but can Brook “absorb” all the pressure, fierce pressure, that he will encounter on Saturday? Is Brook really “a superior boxer” to GGG? Hamed, his critics maintain, lost the big one to Barrera as a result of being mentally intimidated and less than ready on the night. How Brook copes with the enormous mental pressure in his own acid test is yet another of the big questions surrounding this fight.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFQCsgyUlJ0
Still, even if Brook did win on Saturday, he would still have a ways to go before being looked at as the greatest ever British fighter. As special as a win over GGG would be.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYHbMeqh9Q4