Prince Nas - Naseem Hamed - Boxing

Early career
Hamed Naseem started boxing professionally at Flyweight in 1992. He soon began rising through the ranks as he knocked out a series of opponents in the opening rounds. Age 20 he won the European Bantamweight title, comprehensively beating the beleaguered Vincenzo Belcastro in twelve rounds. After one defence he added the WBC International Super-Bantamweight title to his CV in 1994, overwhelming Freddy Cruz in Sheffield, whom he knocked out in the sixth round. Hamed's popularity grew, his unorthodox style winning a large fan base, and his arrogance generating a large group of detractors. After signing for Frank Warren, Hamed, employing spectacular entrances in which he began somersaulting over the top rope and entering the arena to Here Comes the Hotstepper, knocked out increasingly good opposition such as Jose Badillo and Juan Polo Perez. Later in 1995, arguably his finest year, Hamed moved up to featherweight having been named number one contender to face Wales' defending WBO world Featherweight champion Steve Robinson. Hamed won the fight, knocking out his opponent in 8 rounds in front of Robinson's home crowd in Cardiff.[3] His first defence 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.


[edit] Defending his titles
Hamed's title defences included a fight against Puerto Rican Daniel Alicea. The fight was televised to the United States by Showtime and Hamed was carried to the ring on a grand throne. Shockingly, he was dropped in round one. While in his corner, Hamed was advised to temporarily abandon his hands-down stance in favour of a conventional defence. Upon returning to the fight, he won by a knockout in round 2.

Hamed's next fight was in Dublin against former two time world champion Manuel Medina. Hamed received a tough fight against the Mexican, despite dropping him three times. The end came when the ring side doctor advised Medina's corner to stop the fight. Hamed fought with a heavy flu. His next opponent was Remigio Daniel Molina from Argentina, Hamed stopped him in two rounds.

The next opponent was IBF world champion Tom "Boom Boom" Johnson who was defeated in 8 rounds in a unification bout at the London Arena. Johnson was saved further punishment by the referee, who stopped the fight. The new WBO and IBF world champion successfully defended his titles against Juan Gerardo Carbrera.

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 2 time 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. 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.

Naseem relinquished his IBF belt due to the conflict in interests between the IBF and WBO.

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. The Soto fight was a very controversial match due to the latter rounds in which Soto would apply pressure by clinching Hamed, but Hamed countered by tackling Soto to the ground and using several "misplaced" knees to Soto's groin and head, which knocked the wind out of Soto.[4] A simple point was deducted and the fight continued, ending with an Hamed victory (W 12) allowing him to add the world Featherweight championship to his resume.

Had Vazquez not been (deliberately) stripped by the WBA of his belt (they did not want their featherweight title unified with the WBO) Hamed would have the distinction of being the first boxer to hold all four world titles in a division. This is an overlooked accomplishment of Prince Naseem. The WBA would not grant him a subsequent shot at their championship.

As with the IBF belt two years previous, Naseem had to relinquish his WBC world belt due to his commitment to being WBO champion. After this, Naseem vowed to put boxing politics behind him.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naseem_Hamed

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