[waikru101]

Prince had a style that don,t stay. first thing to leave a fighter with age is speed. without speed he has nothing.
he is also a counter puncher, look what happened when he lost,he was forced to throw first and the other guy countered, Prince had no answer and his ego couldn't handle the loss and he quit like a bitch

[King Kabuki]

Actually he had one more fight after Barrera and then quit. What you want to quit doing is referring to Fighters in that sense. We have rules against that here.

[devante]

Originally Posted by waikru101

Prince had a style that don,t stay. first thing to leave a fighter with age is speed. without speed he has nothing.
he is also a counter puncher, look what happened when he lost,he was forced to throw first and the other guy countered, Prince had no answer and his ego couldn't handle the loss and he quit like a bitch

ether

unecessarily critical but very true to a degree, him and roy have somethings in common

[devante]

Originally Posted by Biggiebrother

Occasionally we do a fun sparring drill where one person has to spar with his hands down and rely on head and body movement for defence.

The defensive side of things with your hands down is hard, no doubt about that. Naz's footwork, angles, shoulder rolls, body and head movement was otherworldly. That's how he could pull it off at the highest level.

Now the advantages of boxing with hands down is your punches are much harder to see because they originate outside your opponent's peripheral vision. And because the fist is travelling further, with the right body mechanics, it's possible to generate great power. Now because the fist is travelling further, you need speed to be able to make it effective. that's why just about all boxers who fight with left hand low, using the shoulder roll for defence have great speed. Floyd, RJJ, Joan Guzman are just a couple of examples.

good post great post

extra points for using my word lol

[OZ!]

Most people forget that Naseem's power wasn't really all that incredible. What was incredible is that he came in from all different angles which negated his opponents' ability to role with punches(it makes it seem like he hits harder, he just telegraphed less). On top of that, he and Roy and Mike were KO kings in their respective weight classes because they were full body punchers and they JUMPED into them. Its not hard to create great power, its a lot more impressive that he was able to throw them in a way that didn't telegraph it to his opponents. Mike had a harder time because of it and RJJr is arguably a better version of the Prince because he had the skills, the angles, the power and the follow up speed(although jumping weight classes got to him in the end).
All that matters was that Naseem made the style work for him and it made him memorable and one of the most fun boxers to watch in his era.

[King Kabuki]

No, his power really was that incredible. Guys his size don't hit heavy bags like that.

[Biggiebrother]

Just wanna add Naz was the ultimate entertainer. EVERYONE, love him or hate him wanted to see him fight His ring entrances may have come accross as arrogant at times, but they were fun and as the paying public, you pay to have fun.

We definitely need another Naz

[King Kabuki]

When I was younger in the 90's I used to H-A-T-E him, venomously, like tooth-gritting disgust.

Now that he's gone I realize how much I miss hating him, and how he was essential to the game.

Funny, though. I adore Eubank, who was every bit as arrogant.

[aries]

Originally Posted by Biggiebrother

Occasionally we do a fun sparring drill where one person has to spar with his hands down and rely on head and body movement for defence.

The defensive side of things with your hands down is hard, no doubt about that. Naz's footwork, angles, shoulder rolls, body and head movement was otherworldly. That's how he could pull it off at the highest level.

Now the advantages of boxing with hands down is your punches are much harder to see because they originate outside your opponent's peripheral vision. And because the fist is travelling further, with the right body mechanics, it's possible to generate great power. Now because the fist is travelling further, you need speed to be able to make it effective. that's why just about all boxers who fight with left hand low, using the shoulder roll for defence have great speed. Floyd, RJJ, Joan Guzman are just a couple of examples.

One of the keys to Naz's style that nobody seems to have mentioned yet, and is also one of Brendan INGLES fundamental techniques is switching stances and squaring up. All Ingles fighters do this, Johnny Nelson, Junior Witter. All the way back to Herol Graham who probably had as much to do with the development of the style as Ingle. That's where some of their power comes from and why they can fire from seemingly ridiculous angles with either hand or rotate their head out of the way of a punch. This also allows them to wrong foot their opponents but also as typified with Naz can often leave the fighter themselves off balance or flat footed.

And I believe Naz never really developed to his true potential. I am positive that with Brendan Ingle still at his side he'd have come back to beat Barrerra. But we'll never know. One loss and his fragile ego couldn't take it. He admitted he was never in love with the game and fighters like that don't have the warrior spirit to tackle adversity.

[OZ!]

Originally Posted by King Kabuki

No, his power really was that incredible. Guys his size don't hit heavy bags like that.

Yeah they do. What fighters do you watch? Pacqaio, Marquez, Moralez, Barrera. The biggest difference being that they weren't as flashy and fought better fighters(had a lot more to do with their era in boxing). There are a lot of heavy hitters and their styles lend to how they are perceived. Cro Cop has one of the best LHK in the biz right? Wrong! Guys like MacDonald, Sefo, and especially Aerts etc have just as good kicks if not better, the big difference is that they don't rely on those kicks exclusively to win their fights and therefore aren't thought of that way.
Naseem beat a lot of guys in amazing fashion(who held a combined record of 1129W-854L One of Which was a guy he fought twice with a record of 31-249. not counted twice. And Barrera and Medina combined for 130 of those wins while the four other fighters with good records, 59-8, 52-14, 56-9, 63-21, were all fighters he beat at the end of their careers.) but then so have Marquez etc. They just gave away Losses and/or KO ratios to GREAT fighters.

Alot of boxers hit hard, most just don't win emphatically the way he did. Sorry to burst your bubble, I know you are having a lot of fun with all the threads and you have posted some awesome stuff but Naseem's power wasn't one of a kind, it was his style that set him apart.