Bert Sugar on Boxing by Sugar Bert Randolph

Author:Sugar, Bert Randolph [Sugar, Bert Randolph]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The Lyons Press
Published: 2005-09-30T16:00:00+00:00

By Unanimous Decision, Prince Naz is the Best Boxer Today, Sound-for-Sound

Willie Pep … Kid Chocolate … Henry Armstrong … Abe Attell … Alexis Arguello … Salvador Sanchez …

Not to worry, these great featherweight champions’ place in boxing history is still secure, unchallenged by the man who, upon his arrival in America, brashly announced to one and all that he was “the greatest featherweight of all time.”

The utterer of that verbal puffery was none other than Prince Naseem Hamed. And so far all he has proven is that he is more pretender than contender to the title of “great” he so boldly designated for himself with two less-than-pound-sterling performances here on this side of the Atlantic.

In his first fight in the States, against Kevin Kelley, Hamed went down a total of three times—including getting knocked on, as Eliza Doolittle would have it, his “bloomin’ arse” with the first punch thrown by Kelley—and looked like he was having less fun than Napoleon at Waterloo before Kelley met his after getting “too anxious. ”

With his claim to “greatness” still incapable of standing up to even the vaguest sort of examination, especially against the likes of …

… Tony Canzoneri… George Dixon … Sandy Saddler… Harry Jeffra … Johnny Kilbane …

… Hamed now decided to dip his toe in the waters this side of The Pond again, this time against former bantamweight champion Wayne McCullough, whom Hamed, with his usual peacock-proud blathering said would take “such a beating it’s probably going to be his last fight.” And then, in his best imitation of Muhammad Ali, not only predicted the round such a beating would culminate in a knockout, the third, but pinpointed the exact time, 2:28 of the round.

As he shamelessly dithered on—“You know as well as I do, I have a gift from God”; and “These are weapons (holding up his fists) of aggression, of destruction”; blah … blah … blah—the media began to view him as the second most unpopular import to come to America from Britain since tea was shipped to the Colonies some two centuries ago.

One could only hope that he would just shut up. Or, at least, take a breath.

But Naz had no intention of doing either. And as the days leading up to the McCullough fight wound down, the Prince’s motor-mouth wound up, going into high gear.

“This country has to be broken,” he declared. “There is an Arab-Sheffield-Yorkshire-Yemini-English banging machine who’s going to rock the house.” And on … and on … and on …

Naseem’s pre-fight carryings-on were less like those of feather greats …

… Azumah Nelson … Davey Moore … Eusebio Pedroza … Chalky Wright … Wilfredo Gomez …

… than those of Bert Lahr’s swaggering lion in the Wizard of Oz , delivered in a baritone vibrato: “I’ll fight you with one paw tied behind my back! I’ll fight you standin’ on one foot! I’ll fight you wit’ my eyes closed!”

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