On around 95-96 if a prime Hamed could maybe get the 130 Gatti to meet him at a catch weight(aka drain himself) I could see him picking Gatti apart from the outside with pot shots and forcing a stoppage. But to be fair.... the lil turd never took a flush shot from anyone as big or as powerful as Gatti, so Hamed making a mistake and Gatti turning his lights out is a possibility. I'd still pick Hamed though.... just by virtue of Gatti never being able to cope with an elite fighter.
It's mad to think this fight was on the table once: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WPEQbevQVU I would favour Naz but it wouldn't be a confident pick, Hamed was a small featherweight and Gatti was a big dude. It's very possible he lands something big on Naz and takes him out. I'd lean slightly towards Naz purely because he had a habit of pulling it out the bag.
I think the size difference might be a little too much for Hamed to overcome... I mean, there is no question that if they were closer in size, Gatti walks right into a bomb and gets taken out brutally... but its asking a lot of Hamed (a really tiny guy) to do that with the reality of the size difference
Thats my line of thinking too, when you think about it, it is a massive factor to take on board, plus Hamed gets hit a fair bit. I lean towards Hamed purely because p4p he was the better fighter, but it's really a 51-49 type pick.
exactly... the gulf in talent is pretty vast, but Hamed's wholesale lack of true technical boxing acumen means he would get hit... and getting hit by a guy that much bigger than him could be disastrous... if hamed were a little more skilled defensively, I'd certainly be more confident that he could run rings around Gatti... but I think the ease with which he would hit Gatti and the fact that Gatti had a shaky chin (i.e. he got hurt ALL THE TIME, often against some very light hitters.... people confuse Gatti's recuperative abilities and his courage with having a good chin... he didnt, his chin was average at BEST) would lead him to open up too much, thinking he could take Gatti out and the bigger man would inevitably land and tun the tide in his favor
Hamed only beat 15 or so fighters better than Gatti. He would beat Gatti very easily, probably by early ko.
he never beat a single junior lightweight, though Marvin Hagler beat better fighters on the whole than Bob Foster, but that doesnt mean he beats him
Ditto. Hamed was already small for a featherweight. His power was gigantic, but I think it would only keep him in the fight against someone like Gatti, not wholly win it outright. The fight wouldn't be without its anxious moments (wouldn't be a Gatti fight otherwise), but I like Gatti by a fairly convincing decsion here. I understand X's argument of Hamed beating Gatti at a catchweight... but that's assuming Gatti would agree to such a fight, which I don't think he woud've. He was already killing himself to make 130 (and wouldn't be surprised if a few of his fights were aided by tampered scales). My prediction is based on a fight at 130, which I think would be too much for Hamed.
So....Gatti being bigger and gritter might swing it for him here? What about the swellings and the cuts. If little Wayne McCullough took his best shots its hard to see what Hamed can do to Gatti, who is really a natural lightweight.
Wayne McCullough had an ATG chin. And even if Naz couldn't hurt Gatti - and I doubt that, especially considering Gatti would be there to be a punching bag for him - he could still easily stay on the outside and potshot him to a decision. The gulf in class is greater than the gulf in size. No way Gatti wins this.
Hamed was like 5'3 and he hardly ever outclassed anyone... Im not saying Gatti was some great fighter, but people are acting like Hamed beat a bunch of awesome fighters... he didnt. he beat Manuel Medina (who lost to plenty of other guys) , McCullough (who had no power and was himself tiny) , Tom Johnston (again, a guy who was pretty good but hardly light years better than Gatti, never mind how much smaller he was) and Kevin Kelley (who gave him all he could handle, shit chin and all) Gatti was a BIG junior lightweight and at the very least he hit HARD... Hamed never fought anyone that size, much less outclassed them... I must've missed where those guys suddenly became great fighters... and whoever said that Hamed beat 15 guys better than Gatti is a fucking moron
Gatti, in my opinon, would have been hard enough to stay in there long enough to land something. At the end of the day, Gatti may have been a cut-prone, defense deficient lightweight, but he was still a lightweight with a decent punch. I would love to see how Hamed responded to the same left hook that Gatti bailed himself out of trouble with down the years.
