Naseem Hamed

30th of September 1995, as far as I’m concerned it all started to go down hill from there. Naseem Hamed had just relieved Steve Robinson of the WBO featherweight title and should have been on the road to being a boxing legend, but as we all know it didn’t work out entirely to plan.

A star is born

Turning pro at eighteen years of age Naseem Hamed was the main attraction on terrestrial television after only twelve fights, the previous eleven had been against the usual suspects, but fight number twelve saw Hamed pit himself against the teak tough and defending European Bantamweight champion Vincenzo Belcastro of Italy. At the time many an expert thought this might prove a step too far for the relatively inexperienced Hamed, but what followed was a completely one sided affair as Hamed did as he pleased with the vastly experienced Italian dropping him on several occasions and not to the liking of some taunting his beaten foe for the final three minutes.

Two fights later and a move up in weight saw Hamed take on Freddy Cruz of The Dominican Republic for the vacant WBC International Super bantamweight title, four months previous Cruz had taken WBO Featherweight champion Steve Robinson the championship distance and was seen as a real test for Hamed at this new weight. Leading up to the fight Cruz infuriated Hamed by calling him a child, Hamed responded by handing Cruz his first stoppage loss of his career in six one sided rounds.

Hamed
“He called me a child, I showed him I’m a man tonight and he’s going home knowing that I’m going to become a king”

The crowning of the Prince

Naseem Hamed defended the WBC International Super Bantamweight title on five occasions and then on the 30th of September 1995 challenged for the WBO Featherweight title against Welshman Steve Robinson. In front of a partisan home crowd in Cardiff Hamed put on a master class as he punched Robinson around the ring for eight of the twelve championship rounds, it was no secret that Robinson intended to keep it tight in the opening rounds and hope to take over in the later stages, but Hamed was having none of this and stood square on to Robinson in the centre of the ring and goaded him out of his defensive shell and when Robinson obliged it was all over for him. Robinson was knocked down for the second time in the eighth round and although he was up quickly the referee dispensed with a count, Robinson was a beaten man, Hamed knew it, the crowd knew it and most of all Robinson knew it.

Hamed
“I’m not making a song and dance again but the belts there you can see for yourself, now they said he’d be too big but what happened? I was too big, too strong and too good”

Chinks in the armour

After a one round blow out of *****ian Said Lawal, Hameds next two defences were interesting to say the least. A second round knockout of Puerto Rico’s Daniel Alicea gave people a glimpse of Hamed as they had never seen him before, on the floor. Alicea came to the fight as an unknown quantity, but he showed no nerves as he stalked Hamed and fired straight punches at the champion and when he had Hamed backed up to the ropes in the first round he shot a straight right hand through Hameds defence and with nowhere to go Hamed toppled back onto the canvass. Hamed was up in a heart beat with a pale and embarrassed look on his face, Alicea had done it, he had hit the un-hittable and Hamed, if not hurt, was humiliated and spent the remainder of the round back peddling. In round two Hamed finished the fight in typical blazing fashion, a three punch combination dropped Alicea hard and although he did make an attempt to get up he had nothing left and the referee called the fight without a count.

Two months later and defence number three came in Dublin Ireland against vastly experienced former IBF featherweight champion Manuel Medina. Medina was a tall rangy featherweight and always likely to cause Hamed problems for as long as the fight lasted, and despite early knockdowns and a vicious onslaught from Hamed in an attempt to end the fight (Hamed must have known what we all came to learn, that he didn’t have too much in the tank) Medina went on to cause far more problems than had previously been expected. Hamed seemed intent on ending the fight with one punch and consistently walked and sometimes leapt onto Medina’s punches, but after taking plenty of punishment along the way Hamed began to grind down the Mexican warrior and Medina failed to answer the bell for the eleventh round. Hameds evening was made all the more uncomfortable by the presence of Irish hero Wayne “Pocket Rocket’ McCullough, McCullough and Hameds promoter Frank Warren had a verbal exchange on camera after the fight regarding a proposed meeting between the two. Hamed revealed after the fight that he had been suffering with a cold and chest infection leading up to the fight, this announcement didn’t go down well with the Irish crowd who booed indicating that they thought this was an excuse, although Hameds crackling voice and clear lack of stamina would suggest that he wasn’t one hundred percent fit.

Reporter questioning Hamed
“What did you learn from this fight?”

Hamed
“If I have a cold, I aint fighting”

On borrowed time

From November 1996 to August 2000 Hamed remained unbeaten in twelve WBO title defences, he also picked up the IBF featherweight title by stopping American Tom “Boom Boom’ Johnson in eight rounds, and the WBC featherweight title by out pointing Mexican Cesar Sotto. Under normal circumstances that would be considered a good return for three years work, twelve fights, twelve wins and two further championship belts, but for those who had watched Hamed from the start it was like watching the beginning of the end. The cat like reflexes that had kept Hamed out of trouble for so long were beginning to desert him and he was getting hit and knocked down, a lot, the lightning fast counter puncher was replaced by the one dimensional slugger intent to duke it out, this point was never more emphasised than in Hameds American debut against Kevin Kelley at Madison Square Garden New York. What should have been a showcase for Hameds dazzling boxing skills turned out to be a four round slugfest which Hamed won by virtue of having the better chin and the better punch, it was exciting to watch, but also a little deflating for those who had seen Hamed at his best. The between rounds coverage also highlighted for the world to see the deteriorating relationship between Hamed and trainer Brendan Ingle, between rounds Ingle could be seen to give instructions to Hamed but Hamed completely ignored Ingles words and even held conversations with others at ringside, Ingle had become increasingly frustrated by Hameds lack of commitment to the gym and late night lifestyle, he was becoming a celebrity first and a boxer second.

The end of the road?

On the 7th of April 2001 Naseem Hamed stepped into the ring to face long time rival Marco Antonio Barrera of Mexico at the MGM Grand Las Vegas in a fight that would define each fighter’s career, a meeting between Hamed and Barrera had been boiling since their days as super bantamweights and finally it was here. It should have been a super fight, it should have been a fight that Hamed could win, (I believe that if this fight had been made six years ago when first proposed Hamed would have beaten Barrera comfortably) many boxing experts tipped Hamed to win based on his clear advantage in punching power and the ease at which Barrera could be hit, but as it turned out Hamed was never in the fight, Barrera had a game plan and he stuck to it, he counterpunchedthe counter puncher, and everything Hamed tried Barrera had an answer for. It wasn’t the massacre or the vicious beating that some would have people believe, but it was a comfortable victory for Barrera and now Hamed would have to live with a blot on his record. To his credit Hamed was magnanimous in defeat and congratulated Barrera on fighting a near perfect fight, but inside he must have been torn, a defeat is so much harder to come to terms with late on in a career as you may not get the chance to set the record straight.

Hamed returned to the ring over a year later at The London Arena to face Manuel Calvo of Spain for the vacant IBO featherweight title, Hamed won by wide points margins but was unimpressive in doing so. That was the last seen of Naseem Hamed in a boxing ring although as regular as clockwork news breaks that Hamed is mounting a comeback, none of these stories however have turned out to be truthful, they are more than likely used as bargaining tools by individuals looking to secure television contacts.

Will he come back? Won’t he come back? The truth is only Naseem Hamed knows the answer to that question, but as time passes it becomes more and more unlikely, as things stand it was fun whilst it lasted, Naseem Hamed brought a style of boxing and power punching never before witnessed on British soil, others before him could punch, and others before him had the defensive skills but none could do both with the ease at which Hamed did it. His record is an impressive one, he has won multiple world titles against good opposition and lost only once in a thirty-seven fight career, for most that would be enough, but when it comes to Hamed people know that it should have been more, he should have won world titles at Super Bantamweight, he should have applied himself at the time when it mattered most and he should have beaten Barrera, for these reason I think that Hamed let his team down, he let his massive following down and most of all he let himself down, its hard to write that about someone so talented and who achieved so much, but he was supposed to be a legend.