WHEN NAZ MADE IT BIG
BOXING is on hold like the rest of the country, so now this column will take a look back at some of the sport’s great nights until we can get going again.
And what better way to start than the week Prince Naseem Hamed took over New York.
We brought Hamed over for his US debut and put him in with New Yorker Kevin Kelley in 1997.
It was a great match-up and a fight not to forget.
But it was a bonkers and brilliant week as the man from Sheffield hit the Big Apple for the WBO featherweight clash.
Everyone told us we were mad doing a fight at Madison Square Garden just six days before Christmas.
But we got HBO to pay a fortune on advertising to make sure it was a huge success.
Everywhere you turned in New York you saw this kid from Yorkshire, from Times Square all the way down Manhattan.
But it wasn’t all smooth sailing that week as I battled to keep tempers flaring between Hamed and his trainer Brendan Ingle.
The pair had actually split but I managed to patch things up to make sure they continued on as trainer and fighter. But then Nick Pitt’s well-known
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Interview by CHRIS MCKENNA book ‘The Paddy and the Prince’ hit the shelves and it left Naz fuming.
Brendan had obviously spoken to Nick when he wasn’t on great terms with his fighter and the comments were not great. But somehow we sorted it all out.
There was more drama, with Michael Jackson keen to meet Hamed before the fight.
Naz wanted me to go with him to see the music star but I’d read enough stories about allegations made against him to have little interest in ever crossing paths.
When we eventually got to the fight it didn’t disappoint. It was fabulous.
Hamed went down, he got up and our man outgamed Kelley before he stopped him.
The celebrities ringside ranged from Donald Trump to James Bond, or Pierce Brosnan as he was then.
I was the first Englishman to ever promote a fight at Madison Square Garden. Not a bad first one, eh?
You can watch the fight back on my Youtube channel at https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=kpf7t3 0iwe8&feature=youtu. be