Prince Naseem Hamed - an overview by James Howard May 27th 2008

I have previously made reference of a certain Chris Eubank fuelling my interest in the toughest sport in the world, but there was another fighter who consolidated my affection for the pugilistic art. He's a fighter who divides opinion more than most and recent discussions about possible Hall of Fame entry (and even a recent James Slater article on this very website) reignited many debates which refuse to go away. Of course, I am referring to the Prince, Naseem Hamed. Born February 12, 1974, to Yemeni parents in Sheffield, the Prince started boxing at seven and seemingly gained an immediate affinity with the sport. Not a great scholar, Naz consoled himself with the unswerving belief that one day he would be a world champion. He started boxing at seven and legend tells it that Brendan Ingle first caught glance of the young protégé as he passed in a bus and saw a tiny Hamed fighting off a gang of bigger boys who seemed unable to land a shot on the quick footed youngster. Such attacks led his father to send him to Brendan Ingle's gym in Wincobank, Sheffield. By 12, Naz was making a name for himself and eventually turned over to the professional code six years later at 18. Leaving the amateur game with an impressive 62 wins from 67 fights, Naz made his debut at flyweight in April 1992. The Prince promptly despatched Ricky Beard in the second of the six scheduled rounds before disposing of Shaun Norman in two rounds, two weeks later. Hamed then stepped up a weight and notched up four further wins before the close of '92. The Grand Hall, Wembley hosted Hamed's first win against a fighter with a winning record, albeit a short and untested record, defeating Alan Ley (4-0). By March '94, the Prince had racked up eleven wins with Peter Buckley being the only opponent fortunate enough to hear the final bell. The eleventh of those wins came against the Belgian champ John Miceli, knocking out the former European title challenger in the first round of the contest. The win opened the window for the 20-year-old self-styled Prince to make his own assault on the European bantamweight title, a fight he won unanimously on points having had then champion Vincenzo Belcastro down twice in the fight. After a solitary defence of the European belt (defeating Italian Antonio Picardi), Naz made the step up to super-bantamweight to challenge for the vacant WBC International title, which he won by defeating Freddy Cruz. Straight wins against Armando Castro, Sergio Rafael Liendo, Enrique Angeles and Juan Polo Perez (all between two and four rounds) led Naz to another step up in weight and title, where he was named number one contender to face Wales' defending WBO world featherweight champion Steve Robinson. A vocal Cardiff Arms Park watched with equal measures of resentment and awe and Hamed stripped 'Cinderella Man' of the title he cherished half way through the eighth round. Throughout his career many fans found it difficulty in warming to Hamed's intimidating style of goading opponents, outclassing and teasing them at the same time. The ring entrance was unrivalled, sometimes electric, sometimes eccentric, always exciting. The flip over the ring created a buzz. Once in the ring he would flick his pecs, dance, pull faces, and shake his head shrugging his shoulders as his opponent often couldn't lay a glove on him. Defences of the WBO bauble followed with wins against an increasing standard of fighter, with early finishes in bouts against Said Lawal, Daniel Alicea, Manuel Medina and Remigio Daniel Molina. Famously, Naz was carried to the ring in a throne when he fought Alicea, a move he later regretted, claiming to have felt "uncomfortable" with the situation. Knocked down in the first, Naz's introduction to the American audience (the Newcastle-based fight was screened stateside by Showtime) was typical of the enthralling nature of the man's career, as Naz got back up to defeat his adversary in the second. More bling was added to the Naz belt collection when he defeated America's IBF champ Tom "Boom Boom" Johnson. Hamed made two defences of the two titles together with a first and twelfth round KO of challengers Billy Hardy and Juan Gerardo Cabrera, before vacating the IBF title due to the politics between the WBO and the IBF. Next opponent Jose Badillo was beaten in seven rounds which set up the Prince's first trip stateside, with experienced Kevin Kelley lined up as the opponent. The HBO event shaped up to be among the most exciting fights of my lifetime despite lasting just short of four rounds; both men were personifications of yo-yo's as the fight swayed with the consistency of a pendulum. Even sitting at a PC more than ten years on, memories of the fight, and the three knockdowns each, launch an array of goose bumps on my arms and butterflies in my stomach. Naz and Kelley won the Ring Magazine's Fight of the Year, but the fight showed that Naseem was becoming far easier to hit, due to a slow down in reflexes and an improved level of opposition. But what a night, and what a fight. Paulie Malignaggi was there that night and was enthralled by the Prince; it's fair to say he has since adopted some of Naseem's brash tendencies. Respected defences against  three-time WBA world champion Wilfredo Vazquez, Olympic silver medallist Wayne McCullough and Paul Ingle led Naz to unifying the WBC and WBO titles with a unanimous decision against then WBC champ Cesar Soto. The later rounds of the Soto fight saw the Mexican continually clinching Hamed, the Brit responding by clattering Soto to the ground and occasional use of his knee to press home his advantage. Due to further boxing politics, Naz relinquished his WBC world belt but continued with two successful defences of his WBO belt against Vuyani Bungu and Augie Sanchez. However, the light was beginning to flicker on the proud Arab's dream career. His next bout saw Hamed's first loss inflicted at the hands of the legend Marco Antonio Barrera. The man walking to the ring didn't represent the Naz I had followed up to now. Sure he was always flashy but this was something else. I'll return to this later. On the 18th May 2002, Naz made his final appearance in a boxing ring to win the vacant IBO featherweight title against European title holder Manuel Calvo. The performance wasn't what the fans were hoping for, and evidently not enough for Hamed either as despite numerous denials to this day he hung up his gloves for good. So that's the career. Of course, nothing is ever simple with Naseem so the story certainly didn't end there. In May 2005, Hamed was involved in a 90-mph three-car collision at Ringinglow Road, Sheffield, while driving his £300,000 silver McLaren-Mercedes SLR. Victim Anthony Burgin's life changed for ever as he suffered injuries to every major bone in his body, bruising to his brain, and was in intensive care for three weeks following the accident - the accident has left him permanently debilitated. As site editor Ian McNeilly described in a report at the time of the sentencing, "Having previously overtaken at least two cars, he attempted to overtake a Ford Mondeo, crossing a solid white line to do so. The white line was there to forbid overtaking as there was a hidden dip in the road near the crest of a hill. On that part of the road there is no way the driver can see if anything is coming the other way." Hamed would be go on to plead guilty to dangerous driving at Sheffield Magistrates Court and was eventually jailed for 15 months and given a four-year driving ban. The hearing heard that that Hamed had at least four previous driving convictions. The cause of the accident seems to have stemmed from old habits - the taking of a ridiculous risk - this time in an effort to impress a 46-year-old businessman passenger. Hamed was demonstrating the pace of the car and had reached a minimum speed of 90 mph to overtake on the wrong side of the road when he collided with the VW Golf Mr Burgin and his partner were in. Having apologised to the unconscious couple, Hamed and his passenger returned home claiming he thought he might become a victim of an attack due to the nature of his driving, and that his passenger needed treatment to an injury. Hamed escaped unhurt. Having served just less than four months, Naseem was granted an early release and left prison on 4 September 2006 and was monitored by an electronic tag for the remainder of his sentence. Mr Burgin has recently (March 2008) been cleared of all charges that were brought against him, having initially been charged with dangerous driving following an accident involving Naseem's wife Eleasha. Mrs Hamed, 34, was taking her three sons to school and had to swerve in her silver Audi 4x4 vehicle to avoid a collision. She said at the time that Mr Burgin had said "Never mind all of this; you get your husband to ring me." Apologies to those of you frustrated by the raising of some these details but if we are going to evaluate the man and with that the public perception of him, then I feel it is relevant. Back to boxing. Naz's boxing career had been built on the foundations of an ankle-shaking, straight left punch used with scientific precision to knock out opponents. Naseem's fights always remind me in a small way of the school yard method of fighting, fly in with the fists swinging - but Hamed had the added ability of being able to duck and dive like a Peckham market trader. Naseem often lost his balance on the way in to an exchange, before hot-footing backwards to avoid the returning attack of his adversary. While fighting at domestic level, the Prince was as dangerous as any boxer I have ever seen. I'm tinged with sadness that it wasn't this Naseem who went on to the wider stage where he was eventually dethroned. As is often the case in boxing, the graft becomes harder as the fighter becomes accustomed to the spoils of success, the fighter's hunger declines as does the desire to pull out all the stops to be the best. The problems seemed to present themselves to the public during the Prince's fight with Tom "Boom Boom" Johnson, as despite winning by an impressive KO, the Prince was tagged by multiple shots one was used to seeing him negotiate his way out of. Indeed, trainer Brendan Ingle recounted after their split, "The Tom Johnson fight was the first where he really got hit a few times. He didn't look too comfortable as he had done so in the past, although it was a convincing victory. From then on, rather than improving which he should have been at that youthful age, Naseem faded in terms of ability, he was over confident, it's as simple as that, he didn't put the work in training and actually decreased in boxing standard which is such a shame and sad. It could have been so different. I would say that Naseem of 1995 would beat Naz of 1997 onwards." An interesting side note is that Hamed recorded a song with hip hop group Kaliphz called "Walk like a Champion", which reached number 23 in the UK singles chart in 1996 - tying in with the period when he was losing focus. By Brendan's logic (which I agree with), Naz had peaked and was flagging before his 1997 American debut.  His most elusive days in the ring had left him and he was getting hit more than ever before. To amplify the consequences of this, the American audience who are often the judges on a fighter's career never got to see Naz at his peak. When the US discuss Naseem's place in the sands of time, its like judging James Brown's music career post-2000; it's simply doesn't offer a fair reflection. But then if a person does not maintain their peak performance over multiple years as some of the true greats have, does that detract from potential greatness? Possibly. Mike Tyson is the example that immediately springs to mind, a career that will always be judged in two parts pre and post jail sentence for rape. He was never the same fighter after and tarnished his own legend by some of the post-sentence performances. I believe Tyson is still a legend for what he achieved in the fledgling stage of his career. In terms of excitement, the Prince's inaugural stateside packed a punch almost as powerful as his left hand, the fight was Ring magazine's Fight of the Year as Naz climbed from the canvas three times before keeping Kelley down at his own third attempt. Two wins later (following a less than memorable performance in a points win over Wayne McCullough) the inevitable occurred and Hamed split with his long term trainer Brendan Ingle. The Dublin-born trainer has been open with his verdict on the split, citing Naseem's unreliability and lack of effort in training along with the demands (and desire) of fame and fortune. Summing up, Ingle simply says Naz got "too big for his boots". Hamed employed a trainer who would be more agreeable with his own new found beliefs, specifically that he wouldn't be doing running, and he would be drastically reducing the amount of sparring in which he partook. Changes were made for the whimsical wants of the fighter rather than beneficial needs identified by his mentor. Oscar Suarez was drafted in as new coach. Paul Ingle survived two early knock downs to give the Prince the frighteners towards the closing rounds of the next bout, before the one punch KO king detonated his notable left hand to give himself another win. Next came the controversial Soto fight, followed by a good showing against Vuyani Bungu but in the fight after, against Augie Sanchez, Naseem again rescued himself with a one punch knockout following a four round battle. And then the career-defining test. The Barrera fight will be what many remember about Naseem. The ring entrance by this point in his career had become as chaotic as the Prince had become unfocused, causing the bout to be delayed by an hour (pyrotechnics, fireworks, loud music, extravagant lighting, a motorised seat suspended from a catwalk). Try as he might, the Yemeni descendant failed to make a dent in Barrera's armoury as the legendary Mexican dotted shots to Hamed's head and body, while keeping a safe distance from the dangerous Naz left hand. Barrera won the bout by unanimous decision with 115-112, 115-112 and 116-111 scorecards; many had it by more. Not particularly enamoured by the Prince's manner, by the 12th round Barrera had trapped Hamed in a hold, and nudged his head into the turnbuckle - which cost him a deducted point on the scorecards. The key thing for me with Naz is that I lived through it, and he was the fighter I most enjoyed watching within a particular time-frame. From a distance I feel I in some way experienced the climb to the top of the mountain with the Arabian Prince, and the sharp descent that has followed since. Don't get me wrong, I have a DVD collection of classic fights and fighters from various eras and realise the class there when I see it, but watching the greats of yesteryear isn't the same as watching a fighter develop to the world title when you didn't know the outcome in the early days. I can't pretend Foreman is likely to beat Ali as he was supposed to, I know what happens. Greatness is often designated more by opinion than fact.  What makes someone great to one person means nothing to the next. It is why we can argue the toss endlessly without swerving in our belief however strong the argument presented to the contrary. Whatever arguments I read about Naseem, and whatever the distasteful stories (fabricated or not, probably not) I hear about his personality, it doesn't matter – my views are formed by the experience of watching his fights as they happened. Ask Steve Bunce, who believes Naz was the greatest British boxer of all time. Furthermore, there is genuine justification for the world champion of five years to be thought of in terms of greatness - Vazquez was stripped of his WBA title which stopped the Sheffield puncher becoming the first boxer to hold all four world titles in a division. A counter-argument is that the division was weak at the time, which one could counter with old adage “you can only fight what's around”. Again, it's an opinion on what is most important that counts. The debate will often be decided by another factor, whether the fighter avenged (or tried to avenge) any defeats on his record. Naz didn't take the opportunity to fight Barrera again despite a rematch clause, but its widely said that he hadn't been training properly for years and his abilities had been on the decline in that time. I prefer to think of the courage and power he showed when fighting Alicea, Kelley, and Sanchez, getting up to detonate KO's all round. Hamed's career destabilisation possibly stemmed from (but was certainly consolidated by) the split with Brendan Ingle. Trainers Oscar Suarez and Emmanuel Steward were not able to utilise the unusual style Ingle had developed with the young seven year-old who arrived at his gym all those years ago. It seems not a year passes without comments directly from the Prince's mouth hinting or stating more directly that he is considering a comeback. This I think, and hope, will never happen. There is a hunger and desire, not to mention significant weight loss required makes it a near impossible task. I would like him to protect the significant amount he has achieved in the ring and stay as he is. I think the tongue in cheek delivery of his hints indicate he thinks the same. Naseem may have burned out like Mike Tyson and like many other sport stars with much success early on, but he will be remembered forever, even if much of it is in the context of the recurring is he/isn't he debate.

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Good Overview Jun 2nd 2008, 07:41:01 by aksel Fair point, but what other fighters from the British Isle's would you place in front of Hamed? who else is more accomplished than Hamed? Calzague I here you say? LOL WRONG ANSWER Regards   Good Overview May 28th 2008, 12:57:34 by theword In my opinion Hamed can't really be considered a great. He was a freakily good fighter at his peak and destroyed some very good fighters - his punching power was probably better than any in the history of the super-bantam/featherweight division. But we never saw this peak Hamed against the very best of his era, and for me there was a feeling that a fair amount of handpicking was going on. Ultimately he didn't want it enough. The defeat to Barrera should have motivated him, but it didn't - it unraveled him. Like a school bully who was put back in his place. and that's what he was - an incredibly talented bully boy fighter. Not a great.   great article - took me back to my young days May 28th 2008, 07:25:11 by saturday_kid Really enjoyed the article and reminded me how I first really got into boxing (as a kid) love or hate hamed one thing people can't deny is that he brought the profile of the sport way up high during those times.   Whats the point? May 28th 2008, 06:32:09 by dansapien what is the point of this 'piece'? It argues with itself, serves no real purpose, and is gramatically horrific. (Ed. responds - The piece is an 'overview' and therefore tries to see the good and bad in the subject. 'Serves no real purpose'? People enjoy reading about Naz, so one purpose is to entertain. It's quite comprehensive, so another purpose is to inform. As for being 'gramatically horrific', you might want to capitalise the beginnings of your own sentences before you start throwing stones. However, I've gone back and had a further tidy, just to please you.)   Great Article May 27th 2008, 13:26:31 by stevie What a superb read, light years ahead of the poor article by Slater last week....   A Great fighter May 27th 2008, 11:02:47 by firetrap Its also that the higher the level Naz operated at, the less effective/dominant he was. He was unable to adapt his style and was taken apart by MAB. There will always be a question mark over him as true champions are often judged on how they return from adversity. But his boxing CV stacks up more impressively than any other current UK champ we've had in the last 10 years.   A TRUE FAN OF THE PUGILISTIC SCIENCE THAT BE BOXING! May 27th 2008, 08:36:26 by aksel Good article, well written, read it well and digested it well, much better than the one "good, but not that good" marlarkey HAMED THE BEST EUROPE HAS SEEN. PERIOD!, I HAVE EVERY WORLD TITLE BOUT (MAIN ONES) AT HOME Ricky Hatton is my current favourite fighter (a true brawler, modest) makes me proud as supporter ( Joe Cal"slappy") on the other hand, ahem, I am not gonna even bother! anyways, Ricky Hatton, Carl Froch, Boy Khan and Kevin Mitchell are my current favorite fighters out there.. Joe Calslappy is not one of them, thankfully, its not only upsetting, but its insulting that the take boxing fans as mugs. Hopkins was robbed, everbody knows it! Back to Hamed, who I believe was the best that we (uk) have produced Kindest Regards Folie