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Hamed's impact undeniable
Tyson's skills have deteriorated, we deplore his behaviour in and out of the ring, yet he stills emits waves of excitement. He continues to stir something in the common man, some forbidden appeal, like a Harley or a mistress.
Let's face it, we either want to see Tyson knock someone cold, or we want to see someone beat the bully, tame the beast. At the very least we cross our fingers, hoping that some full moon induced behaviour will continue to provide us with a finger pointing outlet.
Then we have Prince Naz. A skinny featherweight with panther like reflexes and hydrogen bombs for fists. Cocky. Arrogant. Annoying. Genius. He knows what he's doing and he's doing it well. When was the last time a featherweight even came close to sharing the spotlight with a raging heavyweight hell bent on destruction? The name of the division itself was enough to turn away unsophisticated fans. Featherweight. It implies all that the heavyweights are not. Light and soft.
Prince Naseem has almost single-handedly roused the world from its slumber and made them take notice of the great fight action in some of these once uncharted divisions. Suddenly, the narrow scope of the common fight fan has expanded. A little bit of personality goes a long way.
Tyson and Prince Nas are similar birds. They strike some universal chords. They are powerful enough to feed the basic, often suppressed, violent cravings of man. They can both at times, fewer and farther between for Tyson, dazzle us with athleticism and skill. If you think Tyson was all about power, you've missed out on his early magic which consisted of blazing speed, head movement and impeccable timing. Finally they are both, for different reasons, thoroughly and understandably unlikable to many. There's nothing funner than taking the frustrations of inner city traffic and crashing computers and pinning them on some bloke in boxing trunks. Every punch he takes is as satisfying as finally proving that my dad can beat up your dad. Maybe not that good, but it sure is fun. So, tonight the Prince takes on Cesar Soto. Win or lose he's proven to be the heaviest, hardest feather to tickle under the nose of a public that's slept through too many non-heavyweight bouts.
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