NASEEM HAMED claims he is ready to end a
three-year exile from the ring by making a
comeback this summer, writes HARRY TALBOT.
The former world featherweight champion has not
fought since he laboured to a pedestrian win over
Spanish journeyman Manuel Calvo at the London
Arena in May 2002.
But Naz insists he will go into serious training after
returning from a break in the Yemen.
He revealed: “I have not said anything publicly until
now but I’m planning to fight again in the summer.
“We have not selected who my opponent is going
to be just yet but the fight will take place in the
Middle East — and that’s definite.
“I’m training in Sheffield and I’m looking forward to
the future.”
Hamed, 30, suffered the only defeat of his 37-fight
career when he lost on points to Marco Antonio
Barrera in Las Vegas in 2001.
I hope he's learned to box cos if he aint he's gonna get leathered by any decent opponent now his reactions are 3 years slower. All I can see him having at world class is the proverbial punchers chance.
I doubt he'll come back anyway.
I hope he comes back so he can get his ass kicked from pillar to post a few more times.
I doubt you'll see him return. He showed how much heart he has by basically retiring after MAB schooled him. I don't envision him stepping back into the ring.
Yeah, that's his problem. He barely made 126 last time out...
Funny that this has come out just as he has to do his tax returns...obviously still deducting gym equipment.
I always thought it was fun when Hamed fought. His style was so unique. I didn't really care so much about his big mouth or antics in the ring. I always found it fun to watch someone so unorthodox rely so much on speed and power. He could punch from anywhere and end a fight.
A Pacquiao vs. Hamed fight could be lots of fun to watch.
Prince plans crowning folly
Feb 6, 2005
In his prime he was the world’s best featherweight, but Naseem Hamed’s proposed summer comeback to boxing is as foolish as it is absurd, writes Nick Pitt
FATHER of two, presently unemployed, formerly known as Prince, once prominent as champion among the featherweights, lets it be known that his intention is to return to the ring to reclaim his crown.
“I plan to fight again in the summer,” Naseem Hamed told the Sheffield Star. “We have not selected my opponent but the fight will take place in the Middle East, and that’s definite.”
It’s a promise, then, or is it a threat? It’s certainly a call for attention, an attempted escape from boredom, another demonstration that the last reminder of a boxer’s prime is not his punch but his self-delusion.
The reality of his record is that Hamed, who will turn 31 on February 12, has not fought for almost three years, and that performance, against Manuel Calvo, was clinching proof of his decline. Indeed, the last public sighting of Hamed at his scintillating best was in October 1997, when his speed and power destroyed a dangerous challenger, Jose Badillo, in Sheffield.
In his nine fights since, beginning with the reckless but thrilling punch-out with Kevin Kelley at Madison Square Garden, Hamed was only able to operate at limited capacity. The speed of reflex that so dangerously connected his power and unorthodox style had gone.
The contrast between the careers of Hamed and one of his closest friends in those days, Johnny Nelson, is poignant and instructive. From the age of seven, when he first stepped into the gymnasium converted from an old church hall at the bottom of his street, Hamed spent every spare moment training and sparring. Under the supervision of Brendan Ingle, he was able to flourish as a wonderfully sharp and elastic fighter.
At that time, Nelson was one of life’s losers. A big man who fought at cruiserweight or heavyweight, he was awkward, with no self-confidence. He lost his first three professional fights and was ready to quit. When he had a chance to win a championship, he froze. But he kept training. Finally, six years ago, already in his thirties, Nelson won a version of the world title. He has successfully defended it ever since, and will attempt to do so again in Rome in March, aged 38. Every day, as ever, whether he has a fight scheduled or not, Nelson goes to the gym and does his work.
Hamed, of course, was a much more talented and natural boxer, a winner with unshakeable self-belief. He blazed his way to fame. But as a champion, he began to neglect the tiresome necessities of the profession. He disliked running and cut it down. He spent less time in the gym. He put on weight between fights, so that the object of the exercise when he resumed training was not the opponent but the scales. And, of course, his greatest asset, his belief in his own invincibility, became a blinding flaw.
That is all the history of what might have been, and it’s a sad one for those who saw what was probably Hamed’s finest performance, when he won the world title in 1995, outclassing Steve Robinson so completely that it seemed more than possible that Hamed could fulfil his boasts of greatness.
Today, those who spot Hamed in Sheffield, and who can pretty accurately tell a fighting man’s weight at a glance, say he is above 12st, which is 3st beyond the featherweight limit. Moreover, he has carried that weight for two years. But at least, and unusually among boxers who contemplate a return to combat, his fortune, much of it invested in property, remains intact. Having sold his home in Sheffield for a substantial profit, Hamed recently bought a mansion on the outskirts of the city. He does not need to box for money and he ought to realise that without the saving grace of speed, his technical deficiencies leave him very vulnerable. If he does “select an opponent”, there are but two alternatives: the hopeless and farcical, or the handy and hazardous. There was a time when a reconciliation with Ingle might have restored the old vitality. Ingle taught him from the start and knew his fighting genius better than anybody. It was no accident that Hamed’ s decline began when he thought he knew better than Ingle, and became most precipitous when he finally left him, hiring other trainers who knew next to nothing about Hamed.
But alas, pride is too strong a component of Hamed’s character, and the wounds go too deep on both sides. The partnership that was everything in the making of Hamed is permanently dissolved.
It is not the first time that Hamed has promised a return, only to withdraw once more into obscurity, and the overwhelming likelihood is that he will not come back. If he is determined, however, he needs to be told: “It’s over. Your career is finished. What are you going to do with the rest of your life?”