The disastrous defeat of Prince Naseem Hamed

april 7 2001 pay-per-view bouts featuring participants from the lower weight categories are rare but the rivalry between marco antonio barrera and nasim ahmed was so popular with the public that hbo did not hesitate to put this fight on the air or sell it through pay-per-view the price to view the fight was considerable for the time at forty dollars three hundred and ten thousand pay-per-view tickets were sold as of 2020 the barrera hamed fight remains the most successful pay-per-view featherweight bout naseem ahmed went into the fight as a competent favorite pre-match layouts were three to one and in some cases even four to one in his favor barrera's guaranteed fee was 2 million ahmed's guaranteed fee was 6 million but in the end he earned 8 and a half million for the fight which at the time made him the second highest paid boxer in britain after lennox lewis ahmed stated that he wanted to be remembered as the man who raised the bar for featherweight fees and also brought the same spark to boxing as muhammad ali did ahmed's fights were truly spectacular thanks to his athleticism and his showmanship in the us ahmed also quickly gained fans his american debut in 1997 against kevin kelly lasted only four rounds but in those four rounds each of the boxers hit the floor three times he defeated the bulk of the division's top fighters including puerto rican boxing legend wilfredo vasquez of his 15 fights in the featherweight division ahmed finished 13 by knockout therefore most observers agreed that naseem ahmed was the strongest boxer of this weight overall the britain had a 35-0 track record of which 31 were kos another interesting point with the pre-match dealings was that both boxers were 27 years old but if hamed was considered a fighter in his prime then marco antonio barrera at the same age was called a veteran the mexican made his professional debut at the age of 15 and by the age of 27 had 55 fights the longest break he had ever had taken between fights was after he had two defeats in a row from junior jones in the first fight he lost by knockout although a disqualification was recorded in the official result as barrera's coach jumped into the ring before the referee could stop the fight an interesting note nassim ahmed was present at the first jones barrera fight and if pereira had won then their match would have taken place back in 1997. in the second fight with jones barrera lost on points and took what was a very long break for him 10 months even in 2000 after his february war in the ring with eric morales barrera fought three more fights that same year and after such a busy schedule he went to fight ahmed just four months later marco antonio barrera was a classic mexican boxer and that style seriously let him down in those two fights against junior jones but after these two setbacks many noticed the barrera's style began to change and refined elements of classic boxing began to appear in him in the eyes of the public however it still wasn't enough an already pretty battered mexican veteran versus a gifted british star with a heavy hit besides ahmed's coach in this fight was emmanuel stewart many experts considered the fight easy money both for hamad and for the organizers 28 out of 30 commentators predicted the victory of naseem ahmed almost before the start of the fight an unpleasant episode occurred for barrera when it was time to enter the rain marco antonio was ready to leave the locker room he was informed that ahmed had decided to re-tape his hands and barrera would have to wait as a result barrera sat in the locker room for 30 minutes not knowing when to enter the ring and how intensely to warm up george foreman who commented on this fight said that most likely hamed did it on purpose in order to unsettle his opponent before entering the ring however in the first round the left hook from barrera unsettled ahmed himself [Applause] nasim responded to the mexicans attacks with a smile and his smile was met with an accurate jab this was one of those fights where the audience immediately knew that they had not wasted their money they knew that an excellent fight awaited them big things were initially expected from ahmed but as it turned out the leading role in this performance was taken by his co-star [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] fighter briefly dazed him early in the round later came on to land those to give advice you got to work on his now he's got a little bit that's what you want get out there [Applause] barrera refused to concede to his opponent in anything and by the second round passions began to heat up ahmed went into the clinch and barrera moved ahmed to the ground ahmed continued to hold barrera by the neck barrera did not like the fact that he was viewed as a springboard to strengthen ahmed's status as a superstar in the united states he did not like hamed's arrogance who had even tried to intentionally enter the ring in barrera's corner and was blocked by the mexican team the episode mentioned earlier with the delay in entering the ring only added fuel to the fire barrera had been in this business for too long and knew perfectly well that his opponent had decided to play psychological games with him [Applause] [Music] [Applause] in round three ahmed looked a little better than in the previous two rounds and made some good attacks because of this two out of three judges gave the round to him although the decision was somewhat controversial it might seem that the briton began to find his rhythm but barrera took the fourth round without questioning [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] pereira that was a hit but the fifth round was taken by ahmed though the third minute turned out to be equal however in the end ahmed landed a hard left hook and then a right hook to barrera's torso trying to set up [Applause] at the end of the sixth round ahmed decided to play dirty hitting the mexican in the face with his forearm barrera responded and made him understand that he should not play those games [Applause] before the start of the seventh round ahmed's coach emanuel steward warned this boxer not for the first time that he was losing the fight and if he continued in the same spirit he would face the first defeat in his career ahmed stepped up but barrera quite easily nullified ahmed's attacks with a fairly simple but effective technique he would deliver a jab and then move to the left barrera constantly left the line of attack and it seems that all of ahmed's beautiful combination work was disabled by a simple tactic because of this almost all of hamed's attacks turned into single hits which were read by barrera quite easily in the eighth round barrera continued to prove his skill in interpreting ahmed by anticipating his use of a traditional british tactic and countering it naseem holds his hands low and after his attack returns his hand to the same familiar position and not to his chin interestingly the mexican did not rush to attack which speaks of a clear plan for the fight and a tactical endurance [Applause] [Applause] the ninth round was developing relatively calmly but towards the end one of the most memorable moments of the fight took place when ahmed charged to attack but ran into a sweeping left hook by barrera [Applause] in the 10th round ahmed tried to turn the tide of the fight and even succeeded in attacking but he failed to wrest control from his opponent's hands ahmed believed that he was facing a fight with an ordinary boxer who would attack immediately from the first seconds and barrera himself constantly repeated before the fight that he would attack without interruption but that evening ahmed was opposed by a concentrated and well-trained counterpuncher in this fight barrera only had to wait for his opponent to come to him in many fights before it was obvious that ahmed makes many mistakes in the attack for instance he often attacks with his chin high in fights with other rivals he got away with it thanks to his speed reaction time and maneuverability but this evening he had a rival of a different level barrera made meticulous analysis of his own three defeats from jones and his performance in his fight with eric morales this together with the desire to progress and hone skills produced excellent results the world was presented with a completely new marco antonio barrera which by his example showed that it is never too late to develop new abilities and improve yourself and nasim ahmed had no approach to an opponent of this level of difficulty he's going for it he's been on the wrong side of at least one decision here in las vegas he doesn't want it to happen again [Applause] in the 12th round ahmed knowing he was behind swung wildly and missed barrera who in turn placed hamad in a lock and slammed his head into the turnbuckle it did not look like something emotional but as an action with the expectation of finally finishing off the opponent from a psychological point of view considering ahmed's arrogant behavior before the fight and earlier in the ring the audience accepted this episode with enthusiasm but referee joe cortez deducted one point from barrera which was booed by the [Applause] it's audience it has been presented [Applause] [Music] his moment of truth has turned into an hour of torture [Applause] despite this barrera won the fight by unanimous decision and was awarded the championship featherweight title even before the official announcement of the decision ahmed's coach emmanuel steward approached barrera and congratulated him on his victory before this fight naseem ahmed said that he did not consider barrera the most serious rival in his career and as a result barrera turned out not to be just the most serious rival he turned out to be the one who ended ahmed's career under the contract naseem had the right to demand an act of revenge but he did not use it and disappeared from sight for a whole year and then returned to the ring to fight an unknown boxer for which he was booed by the public this was the end of nassim hamed's professional career but as for barrera his career took to new heights and he had several high-profile fights ahead of him including a confrontation with eric morales manny pacquiao juan manuel marquez john lee tapaya and paul anthony ayala barrera retired 10 years after his fight with ahmed in 2011 and began working as a commentator on mexican television alongside julio cesar chavez in 2017 marco antonio barrera was inducted into the international boxing hall of fame please do not forget to like this video if you enjoyed it and subscribe to our channel so you won't miss any new episodes about the boxing legends of the past see you next time [Music]

Channel: Sport Legends

Views: 5,381,417

Keywords: Sport, Legends, Prince Naseem Hamed, Marco Antonio Barrera vs Prince Naseem Hamed

Id: 6Zeyte1Vqvk

Length: 13min 57sec (837 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 21 2021