Kell Brook is growing on me, I think he's really good. No real opinion on this match up though; both guys are too unproven at the weight
I'm nearly ready to stick my neck out on Brook and say he's the real deal. He gets better every time I see him, he has the type of skills which are rare in 2012.
I'm shocked. He seems like another Ingle hype job to me, begging to be exposed by a proper world class fighter.
I still don't know how good Brook is. Didn't watch the fight with Matt Hatton at the weekend because that wasn't going to answer anything anyway. Let me know when he fights someone good.
It's so rare I see a guy fighting off the back foot, moving his head & throwing proper, purposeful punches these days I get an erection and start thinking with it.
That's exactly what Hamed did, and his style was exposed to a huge degree against a good world class fighter like Barrera. I think Berto would flatten Brook.
Hamed lunged & pot shotted - Brook keeps his shoulder high, throws in bunches and is very controlled with his balance in combos. He's really pretty measured these days Besides, Naz was exposed 3 years after he'd left Ingle & the notion that he actually had to train behind
Hamed was still the same fighter, with the same style. Barrera would have done that to any Hamed. Regarding Brook, yeah he's definitely less wild and vulnerable than Hamed, he has better balance, throws a few combos, but he still has the Ingle style, mainly potshotting, with the silly stance and stick up the arse. Witter became a bit more "grounded" with his style too, but he still looked like an amateur Vs a solid world level guy like Bradley. The same thing will happen with Brook, mark my words, Ingle's style is amateurish and 1 dimensional, and his guys look lost when fighting someone legit. They don't like to get hit much either, I think they have crap sparring or not much of it. Brook doesn't react well to punches.
Couldn't disagree with that bit more, tbh. Remember the Augie Sanchez & Calvo fights? Every bit as awful. His style became a caricature of itself under Calvo. Hands sunk from his chest to his thighs, stance angled round to that ineffectual side on karate posture & he switch-hit allot less. Stopped training to boot. :tick: Anyway re:Brook, we'll see. I'm not saying he's gonna hang with Floyd or Pac, but if he's matched with Berto, Khan or Ortiz I'd tentatively favour him. Mainly, I just enjoy watching him. Certain guys I just like even if they aren't quite elite
re: Hamed, sorry but I just don't buy it. I think it's bullshit Hamed apologist stuff. I think "stopped training" is an exaggeration too, his camp must have been better than the footage indicated, it's easy to give one glimpse of something and pass it off as having more scope than it does. Even if his camp wasn't ideal, neither was Barrera's against Pacquiao, I don't think it would make much difference in either scenario. Hamed showed vulnerabilities as early as the Medina fight. Sanchez was nothing new, it just so happened that Sanchez was very good offensively with a good punch, and managed to exploit Hamed's crappy style better than most other people. He was still with Ingle against Kelley right? His style looked as stupid as ever there too, his punch just bailed him out. No one was saying how crap Hamed suddenly was in the Ingle, Soto and Bungi fights within just over a year previous to Augie. In fact he looked fairly calm and solid against Bungu, a far cry from someone who is supposedly done. But that's the story of Hamed's career, he looked good against undersized or old fighters, against anyone good or prime, he looked fucking awful. I would pick Barrera to school any version of Hamed in much the same way. re: Brook, we'll see sure, I'll gladly admit if I'm wrong and jumping the gun in calling him just another Ingle hypejob, which is what he looks to me, just a bit less silly. Don't forget you were pretty damn high on DeGale too, who is probably not even as good as Brook :kidcool:
Hmmm, I think it's worth pointing out that Pacquiao handled MAB a lot easier than MAB handled Prince. Hamed arguably won four or so rounds against MAB. With a better camp and the all around sharper style he had two or three years earlier I don't think it's outside the realm of possibility that he could turn the tables on Barrera. A lot of the rounds MAB won were based on two or three really solid, meaty, showy punches that made Hamed's head swing around like a speed bag.
I gave Hamed 2 rounds. I thought Barrera dominated the fight and Hamed looked out of his depth. Barrera landed more punches in almost every round, not just meatier ones. Hamed didn't really know what to do against someone as composed, tough, confident, and skilled as Barrera, with good, accurate counterpunching. The Hamed of 2 or 3 years earlier would have been jabbed and countered silly in much the same way, I honestly don't think there would be much difference.
