OOTP Developments Forums - Fighters: Debuting 1990 to 1999

Naseem Hamed
1992 - 2002
id=4462
Sex Male
Nationality British
Alias Prince
Federal ID CT016347
Hometown Sheffield, England
Birthplace Sheffield, England
Division Featherweight
Date of Birth 1974-02-12
Reach 64”
Stance Southpaw
Height 5' 4½
W 36 (31 ko's) | L 1 | D 0 | Total 37

Early career Picture at the bottom of bio

Hamed was considered a boxing prodigy from an early age. He admits that he didn't care much for school because he believed that someday he would become world champion. Known throughout the first half of his career for his abilities to land extremely powerful blows, to dodge opponents punches - and, conversely, in the latter half of his career, for his tendency to be caught by some very obvious ones too - one account claims that his first manager, Brendan Ingle, initially saw a pre-teen Hamed through the lattice mesh of a schoolyard fence, fighting off a gang of older boys who all seemed unable to land a blow on the fast-moving young boy. At the age of 12 he was a top amateur boxer in England and Europe, and at 18 he signed his first contract as a pro. Hamed's elusive, hands-down style was developed at Brendan Ingle's famous gym in Wincobank, Sheffield. However, it was also strongly influenced by the gym's star fighter in the mid-1980s, Herol 'Bomber' Graham.

Hamed rose swiftly through the ranks and in (un)popularity, his unorthodox style winning a large fan base, and his innate arrogance generating a large group of anti-fans. In 1995 he won his first world title, knocking out Wales' defending WBO world Featherweight champion Steve Robinson in 8 rounds in front of Robinson's home crowd in Cardiff. His first defense came against Austrian based Nigerian, Said Lawal, knocking him out in only 45 seconds. This was the fastest world title fight ever held in Scotland.
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Title defences

Hamed kept defending his title and then he met Puerto Rican Daniel Alicea. The fight was televised to the United States by Showtime and Hamed was dropped in round one. While in his corner, Hamed was advised to temporarily abandon his hands-down stance in favour of a conventional defense. Upon returning to the fight, he won by a knockout in round 2.

The next opponent was IBF world champion Tom Johnson who was defeated in 8 rounds in a unification bout, once again in London. Johnson was saved further punishment by the referee, who stopped the fight.

In 1997 he flew to the United States to fight there for the first time. His ceremonious arrival on the British Airways Concorde was covered by multiple media outlets. There, he and former WBC Featherweight champion of the world Kevin Kelley fought in Ring Magazine's fight of the year at the Madison Square Garden in New York. This fight marks something of a watershed in Hamed's career, as he was forced, for the first time, to abandon his hands-down style of fighting throughout the entire course of the bout, given the calibre of Kelley. In addition, many of the speed and stamina-related hallmarks of his career, ie the prevalence of combination punching, ability to dodge blows etc, seemed to have degraded somewhat; debate still rages as to whether this was the result of increasing age, or of increasing quality of opponent, or both. Nonetheless, despite being dropped three times himself, Hamed put Kelley down for a third and final time to win by a fourth round knockout. This was his first of many fights on HBO. The fight was ranked 100th in Channel 4's 100 Greatest Sporting Moments in 2002.

In 1998 Hamed enjoyed victories over former 3 time WBA world champion Wilfredo Vazquez (KO in 7), Former WBC Bantamweight world champion Wayne McCullough (W 12), and in 1999 the WBC world Featherweight champion Cesar Soto, (W 12) to add the world Featherweight championship to his resume.

Hamed finally lost on April 7, 2001 at the MGM Grand Casino in Las Vegas. His record at the time was 35-0 and his opponent, Marco Antonio Barrera had a record of 52-3. Barrera moved up to Featherweight for the fight after himself as a top Super Bantamweight (Junior Featherweight). The bout was delayed a full hour as Hamed's elaborate entrance, involving fireworks, loud music, spectacular lighting, and conveyance to the ring on a motorized seat suspended from a catwalk, was prepared. However, when the fight was underway it was immediately obvious that Hamed was facing the toughest opposition of his career and his bluster might not live up to his performance. Prior to the fight, Hamed was a heavy favorite with bookmaker's odds of 3:1 consistently in his favor. The press too was almost unanimous is predicting victory for Hamed. But, it was not to be. Hamed was unable to hit Barrera with his trademark lefts as the Mexican champion circled to his left and worked both head and body. Barrera, a no-nonsense fighter, was not a fan of Hamed's antics and responded to Hamed's punches during clinches. On one occasion early in the fight, Hamed grabbed Barrera and both fell to the ground where Barerra threw a light jab leading to a warning from referee Joe Cortez. Ultimately, Barrera threw more punches, harder punches, and more impressive combinations. He was awarded the victory via a unanimous decision and won the vacant IBO Featherweight title.
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Style

Hamed employed a unique style that flummoxed opponents and contributed to his tremendous popularity. Hamed's most powerful punch was a straight left that was known to knock strong fighters out in a single shot. He rarely threw combinations in excess of three punches, which were usually composed of two right jabs followed by a left straight, hook, or uppercut. Because Hamed threw his left with such ferocity, he often lost his balance, a stylistic defect that opponents such as Kelley and Marco Antonio Barrera (the latter more successfully) took advantage of. For defense, Hamed relied mainly on his sharp reflexes to avoid his adversaries' punches, rarely blocking shots and preferring to back away from strong attacks. His quick feet prevented him from from getting stuck against the ropes or in corners. Hamed clinched infrequently, primarily because he was not usually sufficiently fatigued to warrent such tactics. When in clinches he would often throw lefts to opponents' heads.

Hamed was also known to clown around in the ring. When hit cleanly he would smile at opponents, make faces, shake his head, and shrug his soulders to indicate that he was unhurt. Hamed sometimes danced in the ring and, ever the showman, usually entered by doing a flip over the ropes. Hamed's opponents did not generally respond to his taunts and horseplay, but his best, Barrera was sufficiently infuriated by Hamed's flippancy to drive "Naz's" head into a turnbuckle in the twelfth round of their fight costing him a point.
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Criticism

In the eyes of hardened supporters and some observers, both despite and because of blatant flaws in his style of fighting, Hamed had earned a reputation of invulnerability by the time of his fight with Barrera. As one Boxing reviewer wrote, "He does everything wrong except lose". It was the view of many by this point that, regardless of the opponent presented, as long as that challenger weighed within 10lb, he would simply and inevitably lose; any measure of success against Hamed only decreased the opponents final standing, being all the more badly bruised and marked for lasting 12 rounds. Nor did it seem to help if you succeeded in knocking Hamed down; all of the three men who had succeeded in punching him to the canvas, namely Alicea, Kelley, and Sanchez had ultimately been knocked out in increasingly brutal fashion over the years, culminating finally with the carrying away of Sanchez on a stretcher in 2000.

In the eyes of a few boxing cognoscenti, however, Hamed's downfall was only a matter of time. They pointed to the increasing instances of opponents knocking him down and lasting 12 rounds; they attributed this both to Hamed's own declining qualities, i.e. dulling reflexes, worsening defense etc, and also to the increasing quality of opponents presented before him.

It was in 2001 therefore, to the shock of the great majority of the Boxing community, and to the gratification of a smaller minority of experts and anti-fans, that Hamed suffered his first loss, being beaten comprehensively by Barrera, a champion of long standing, to lose the WBO's version of the Featherweight title.

He fought a single return match in 2002 against the European Featherweight champion Manuel Calvo of Spain, and annexed the IBO title with a 12 round unanimous decision, despite a knockdown suffered in round seven. Despite, or in some cases because of Hamed's re-styling of himself as The Fresh Prince, a nickname hinting at a return to the combination punching, fleet footwork and inaccessibility to inbound punches that typified his pre-Kevin Kelley fights, many of his fans as well as some boxing magazines were left unimpressed by his performance, indeed loudly expressing discontent at the continued deterioration of his skills, many seats around the ring becoming vacant as the latter rounds whiled by.

There was often speculation about Hamed making a return to the ring. In November 2005, Hamed announced he was considering the possibility of a return to the ring.[3]
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Controversy

On May 2 2005 Naseem Hamed was involved in a 90mph three-car collision at Ringinglow Road, Sheffield, while driving his £300,000 McLaren-Mercedes. He hit a another car head-on while attempting a dangerous overtaking manouvere. The driver of the car he hit was very seriously injured, breaking every major bone in his body [4] and suffering bruising to the brain. Hamed escaped unhurt.

On May 12 2006, Hamed was jailed for dangerous driving. He was sentenced to 15 months after pleading guilty at an earlier hearing. He was also given a four-year driving ban. Hamed had four previous convictions for speeding offences.

The court heard how Hamed had been anxious to impress businessman Asif Ayub, who was a passenger in the McLaren-Mercedes at the time of the crash. Hamed was showing what his car could do when he crossed a solid white line at a speed of at least 90mph and crashed head-on into a Volkswagen Golf that emerged from a dip in the road. Hamed's car then hit a second vehicle, the Ford Mondeo he had been trying to overtake.
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Legacy and Impact

Hamed is regarded today as principally responsible for boxing fandom's renewed interest in the lower weight classes. Stars like Barrera, Erik Morales, and Manny Pacquiao, though they were contemporaries of the Prince, gained much of their recognition thanks to Hamed's fame and, indeed, infamy. As popular lower weight fighters like Oscar De La Hoya and Kostya Tszyu moved into the mid weight classes and the heroic Mexican champion Julio Cesar Chavez declined, Hamed and Arturo Gatti filled the void. Hamed's power made him the new poster-boy for lighter weight boxers and his charisma attracted a large number of fans. Almost four years removed from his last fight, Naz remains a major name in boxing and a comeback would, no doubt, be highly lucrative. On the 12th of May 2006 he was sentenced to 15 months in Doncaster prison, following a hearing at Sheffield Crown Court on counts of dangerous driving.
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Record

* Amateur boxing: Fights:67 Wins:62 KOs:17 Losses:5 Drawn:0
* Professional boxing: Fights:37 Wins:36 KOs:31 Losses:1 Drawn:0

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Career

* IBO World super Featherweight champion
* WBO World Featherweight champion
* IBF World Featherweight champion
* WBC World Featherweight champion