Wicked: The Prince Naseem Phenomenom

by Gavin Evans

Ever since he was eight years old, Naseem 'The Prince' Hamed has been telling everyone who would listen that he was destined to be a multiple world champion. Today, sixteen years later, he has made believers out of all England. This is God's own boxer, a man so outrageously talented that even the crustiest old cynics are admitting they have never seen his like before. The leopardskin shorts, the acrobatics, the non-stop verbiage and most significantly of all the unique combination of speed, defensive skill, strength and power have made him one of Britain's premier sports personalities and now have launched him in the United States also. In this engrossing and in-depth portrait, author Gavin Evans explores the development of this young phenom from his childhood to his world title victories and beyond. From his roots in the Yemeni community in Britain, his struggles at school, his 'salvation' at Brendan Ingles boxing gym and his current life beyond the cameras and ring lights, this is a fascinating story of courage, self-confidence and single-minded determination.

Genres: Sports

333 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1999

Reviews

[Sunny · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favourite biographies and one of my all-time favourite fighters. Naseem Hamed was back then a Yemeni kid from Sheffield who walked in / was invited into his local gym (lead by a legendary trainer called Brendan Ingle) when as the legend goes Brendan saw Naz as a 7/8 year old getting into a fight at school with a few older boys and majestically evading all of their punches and hitting back. To do that at such a young age and fearlessly is incredible and it was perhaps this trait which saw Naseem through all the incredible success he had as an amateur and a professional boxer into the early 2000s. He only ever lost one fight to the legendary Marco Antonio Barrera of Mexico. The Naseem phenomenon was gripping to any sports and a lot of non-sports orientated kids and adults in the 90s and early noughties. He had confidence which just defied belief (oxymoron?). He genuinely believed that he could not lose a fight. His thinking was that if no one can really catch me (he barely got a single black eye in 20 years of training in his gym) and if he had this God given power to hit people very hard (he would regularly fight heavyweights (people over circa 80 kg) whereas he himself would have been close to 60) how could he lose? I get that logic. His confidence sometimes verged on being extremely rude and inimical towards others but for me personally it came with the territory he was increasingly and alluringly finding himself him. Here was a kid who from the age of 7 had had it drummed into him that he was going to become one of the legends of the sport – there are very few boxers who would not let this get to their heads. This was a fighter that “carried his own referee” in his own 2 tiny but powerful fists :), he did a lot of body sparring (rather than head sparring) which meant that he had to move his whole body out of the way rather than just the “lazy” option of just moving his head, his reflexes, peripheral vision, power, sense of timing, flexibility and stamina (he claimed to have been in the gym 7 days a week for the last years before the qualifications for the 92 Olympics (which he missed)) and his hand eye coordination were alien like. He could throw 38 punches in 8 seconds. He could box 20 consecutive fast 3 minute rounds in the gym without visible fatigue. He would stare at your feet and when you were distracted thinking what it is that he is looking at he would throw a huge brain numbing punch to your face. Sparring partners of weights much bigger than him would hate sparring with him due to the pain that he often caused them. He had many many victories but perhaps his greatest for me of all was the way he audaciously beat Steve Robinson the Welsh champion who held one of the 4 worlds sanctioned belts in Cardiff to become world campion. At one point his confidence was so high that he stood in front of Steve square in front of him both hands down by his side only a foot away from him. That’s the equivalent of a Toreador standing in front of a bull with the red flag thingy in front of its face. Insane but he knew what his reflexes were like and the power that was in his punches. Right after his Steve Robinson fight his first defence was over in barely 30 seconds. Just watch for yourself on YouTube the way he dismissed Said Lawal with his very first punch of the fight at around 3 seconds https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXQ6k... – unbelievable. He eventually got caught up in the money game and bought cars and houses galore and his training got less and less focussed. If he had maintained the energy and zeal in training that he had demonstrated in some of his early fights (remind you of anyone? – Tyson?) then he could truly have gone on to become one of the all-time greats to be mentioned alongside Ali, Robinson, Leonard etc etc.

[Samar · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was really good and I liked the fact That Naseem Hamed was too good for anyone to touch him. His reflexes were so sharp and his punches were so hard that they got him to where he is today and he worked hard, really hard and him clowning around in the ring is perfectly fine if you ask me; It’s pure class as well and I always wonder why people give him stick for that…He’s Prince Naseem for ‘cryin out loud!

[Tommysmith7012gmail.Com · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hi champ iam Tommy Smith my brother is Jacob Smith and Jim we all know you champ and love you we remember you from back in the day if you are ever in the north east Darlington you are very much welcome to our homes God bless you champ