KID’S DEBT TO PRINCE
Naseem led the way
KID GALAHAD got a call from Prince Naseem Hamed moments after he won his world title.
It was a reminder he had secured the same belt his idol once possessed.
And then followed a challenge – to go collect the others Hamed won at featherweight.
Galahad, 31, won the IBF belt back in August when he stopped Jazza Dickens.
It had been his dream to win a world title since he met Hamed at a mosque in Sheffield.
He was a troubled kid and asked the British great how he could follow in his footsteps.
Hamed told Galahad – real name Barry Awad – to go to Brendan Ingle’s Wincobank gym.
He got to train alongside WBO, WBC and IBF champion Hamed, one of the most exciting fighters to ever come from Britain.
So when he finally emulated his hero at Eddie Hearn’s Fight Camp in the summer, one of the first calls came from Prince Naz. “He said, ‘You’ve got my old IBF title’ and I went, ‘Yep I’ve got your old IBF title,’” said Galahad, whose only defeat in 29 came against Josh Warrington in 2019.
“Naz makes you laugh. He’s so competitive it’s crazy.
“When I met him at my local mosque and said I wanted to be a champion, he told me to come down to Brendan Ingle’s gym.
“If he hadn’t I wouldn’t have become a world champion.”
Galahad makes the first defence of the IBF title tonight against Spanish veteran and former super-bantamweight world champion Kiko Martinez in his hometown of Sheffield.
But he is eyeing up unification fights next year with WBO champion Emanuel Navarrete, WBA title holder Leo Santa Cruz or WBC champ Gary Russell Jnr.
There is also a potential bout with Nottingham’s Leigh Wood or Belfast’s Michael Conlan, who are due to meet next year.
And Galahad is on a mission to collect the same belts as Hamed, who was a long-reigning WBO champion before collecting the IBF and WBC titles.
“He told me I have to get the others he won now,” added Galahad. “I said, ‘Don’t worry slowly but surely I’ll get them.’ ”