01.04.06 – By Michael Klimes: In the Oxford Dictionary the word Houdini is defined as ‘a person skilled at escaping,’ after the notorious magician.
A former British boxer that used to be a magician in the ring was Naseem Hamed or The Prince (as he liked to call himself). Hamed, with Chris Eubank, Michael Watson, Nigel Benn and Lennox Lewis was once one of the finest British fighters of the 1990s. He may even have been the best.
Hamed was a precocious little man. He started off his professional career boxing as a bantamweight but quickly moved up a division to the featherweights where he rapidly stood out as something outstanding and unique. Indeed, Hamed possessed many qualities that only come to naturals: He was a brilliant switch hitter that could change his stance with ease, he could launch bone breaking punches from either hand with lethal precision, had wonderful reflexes and an exciting, crowd pleasing style. The Prince on form was a delight to watch.
However, Hamed’s gifts were counterbalanced by endemic flaws. He was mind numbing in arrogance. By twelve years of age, he had already lectured Harry Mullan, the former Editor of Boxing News declaring,’ You ought to write a story about me. I am going to be world champion one day.’ The way he became champion was astounding. At just twenty one years, Hamed gave a painfully humiliating master class to a bemused Steve Robinson in 1995 at Cardiff Arms Park in Wales. Robinson was then the W.B.O Featherweight Champion.
Hamed knocked him out in eight rounds. The sheer and untapped raw potential on display was sensational. Hamed did everything wrong from the fundamental rule book perspective. He held his hands down by his waist instead of up by his face, punched off balance and stuck his head out for Robinson as target practice. Robinson was in a hopeless mismatch with Hamed effortlessly leaning back to avoid punches and landing his own shots at will.
Although everyone agreed on Hamed’s abilities, there was something mildly disconcerting about the way The Prince ripped apart Robinson. Hamed not only showboated but seemed to enjoy, perhaps just a little too much his overwhelming slaughter of his adversary. There was a degree of merciless cruelty in Hamed’s performance.
Everyone, though, forgot Hamed’s cruelty as he was now the toast and butter of British boxing. He was a promoters dream: He had youth, a mouth that ran marathons and limitless talent. He reinforced his reputation as a fearsome puncher when, in his first defence of his new belt, he knocked out the poor Nigerian contender Said Lawal in thirty five seconds. He broke his nose in three places and was accumulating an aura of invincibility.
Unfortunately, the more Hamed impressed in the ring the more damage he did to himself with his self-destructive arrogance. Compounding this vice were his increasingly elaborate ring theatrics. Fireworks, smoke, a flying carpet and a throne all accompanied Hamed to the squared circle in different bouts.
With his ever inflating ego and hunger to snort the media limelight like cocaine, vulnerability started to creak in the canvas of the ground where Hamed needed it the least: The ring. In 1997, Hamed added the I.B.F Featherweight title to his waist by defeating the tough Tom Johnson in London. This catapulted him to a make a debut in America at the spiritual home of boxing, Madison Square Garden. This is the point when eyebrows started to be raised about Hamed’s unorthodox style.
American fans and judges, perhaps boxing fans in general love aggressive, come forward fighters that devastate their opponents with one punch. Hamed, in his debut against the accomplished Kevin Kelley participated in a pulse vibrating four round war. He was sent to the canvas three times but demonstrated true grit (not just gift) as a fighter by absorbing the punishment and coming through the other side. Although the knock downs and power helped make Hamed a box office name on both sides of the Atlantic they underscored two worrying occurrences in this fight.
True, Hamed showed courage but he also looked surprisingly sluggish which made his very low defence a disadvantage. For it not to become an Achilles heel, Hamed had to retain those cat like reflexes. Equally, it was his power and power alone, which got him out of trouble; not dazzling footwork, reflexes and laser guided punching. If Hamed was going to continue winning against increasingly dangerous opposition, he had to ensure he did not become a one dimensional knock out artist.
Hamed’s last nail in the coffin of the gradual slope into the sludge was splitting with Frank Warren (his promoter) and Brendan Ingle (his trainer) who had been with him since he was just seven. This happened in 1998. Hamed’s supreme test came in 2001 when he went to fight the great Mexican Marco Antonion Barrera in Las Vegas. If Hamed could beat Barrera, he would silence the fiercest of critics. Hamed entered the ring that April night with an undefeated record of 34 wins. There were some considerable scalps to his resumé but Barrera was a class above them all. This was a different ball game.
Barrera smashed Hamed from pillar to post over twelve gruelling rounds. He was respectful of Hamed’s power, never allowing himself to be suckered into striking distance. Hamed was at the very least humbled and at the maximum humiliated. Everything, which had once made him such a brilliant star faded into a black hole. To his credit, Hamed took his beating like a champion and took the defeat with a grace unusual to him. There was an encouraging sign in his comments saying he would comeback. Thus far, he hasn’t except in a controversial points win over the little known Manuel Calvo in 2002; Hamed looked like a relic.
A Possible Return?
Hamed, on numerous occasions has spoken of a comeback but these have proved to be empty remarks. There were hints of a planned return in early 2006 but this has not happened. In a recent interview he said, ‘I’ve been spending plenty of time with my two sons, my wife and parents just chilling. I’ve been boxing since the age of seven and it got to a point where I just thought I could take a break and that’s what I did.’
A number of factors prohibit a successful return of The Prince and it is an illusion to believe that if he does return he will be a boxer of the same mould. Hamed, like Muhammad Ali in a Mark II model will not have the same speed and reflexes that were the hallmarks of his prime. Subsequently, this will effect his style as he won’t be able to get out of trouble by slipping punches like he did in the old days. What we will see if Hamed tries to fight as his older self will be more knock downs and bigger punishment. Ali was savagely beaten in some rounds of his bouts between 1970-1975 (when he was still a great fighter even though in decline) because he simply could not maintain the original work rate he used to be known for. Ali had to use his incredible intelligence and mental strength to stay barely competitive in parts of fights. Hamed will have to exercise a similar array of qualities if he wants to beat the toughest opponents. Boxing purists were not entirely wrong in their criticisms of Ali’s and Hamed’s defences, they were fundamentally flawed but only when their defensive reflexes failed them from ageing.
Another foreseeable trial is that if Hamed has slowed, then his style will have to a more orthodox defence. This means changing his stance, which means playing around with his balance and how he throws his punches. One of Hamed’s great strengths was that he could punch from the most awkward of angles because of this awkward stance and balance. If a trainer changes this The Prince is not only fighting in a completely different way but also is doing something that is not natural to him and goes against his most intuitive fighting instincts.
Hamed could still retain the wonderful duplicity of switch-hitting and deliver bombs in each hand but he will need to learn how to fight more economically. Showcasing stunning two round knockouts and engaging in four round wars is not the way to set the pace of a bout and wear down your adversary. Hamed needs to be patient, work a jab, take rest periods through clinching if he is tired, work the body and then deliver the knockout. He does not want to believe and operate on the one punch knock out philosophy.
The other problems are connected to weight and character. It is important that he fights at the weight he is most comfortable with and does not cut training like he did towards the latter half of his world title reign. The celebrity spotlight life he liked to live must not be rekindled and he will need to be wary of younger fighters coming up who want to staple his big name as a former world champion to their records. Sparring partners are invaluable from a training perspective as well as his lack of them in his big fight against Barrera showed. Hamed needs to be humble and not let himself get carried away with being flashy.
Other Opinions
Barry McGuigan, the former Irish brawler warned Hamed of his return stating, ‘My advice to Naseem is to stay retired and enjoy your life. It’s very difficult to go back and capture that hunger again. He can get into shape but it is a different thing from being fighting fit.’
Emanuel Steward, trainer of Tommy Hearns and Lennox Lewis suggests otherwise, ‘He can become a world champion again,’ Hamed’s comeback ‘has to be done properly and delicately. A lot of guys comeback and they rush into it. You have to be careful about the opponents. If he trains hard, I don’t think it will take him more than three months.’ Steward has announced his enthusiasm to work with Hamed as, ‘I only have fond memories of him.’
It seems, in my eyes, it is too late for The Prince. Frank Warren once said of him,’ I think at one stage he was the most exciting fighter that I’d ever been involved with. At one stage, in the early part of his career, he could have gone on to become one of the great fighters. But that disappeared when he didn’t fight as regularly as he should have done, when he was cutting corners on his training. It just didn’t work out for him from that point on.’
Hamed seems to have lacked what Ali said the true greats need, ‘Champions aren’t made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them-a desire, a dream, a vision. They have to have last-minute stamina, they have to be a little faster, they have to have the skill and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill.’
The will is something The Prince was always short of.