Synopses & Reviews
A legend in the making -- the inside story of "Prince" Naseem Hamed, WBO featherweight champion
Naseem Hamed is, pound for pound, perhaps the best fighter in the world and is putting excitement back into the sport of boxing. At the age of 22, he is already a multimillionaire and the World Boxing Organization's featherweight champion. A supremely talented athlete with skills reminiscent of a young Ali, Hamed is an extravagant showman inside the ring and a quiet, practicing Muslim at home. As did Ali, he boasts confidently of his future, claiming, "I'm going to beat all of them.... I'm going to be a legend". Naz, as he is known to friends and fans alike, is already one of the most popular figures in the Arab world: the last time he went to Yemen, his birthplace, there were 20,000 people at the airport to greet him.
Author Ian Steafford met Hamed in the late 1980s at a gym and has followed his career from his debut as an undercard fighter to his successful challenge for the world title. In Born to Be King, he chronicles the story behind Hamed's success and profiles the man himself -- a gifted fighter driven by unshakable beliefs. Steafford also takes a look at Brendan Ingle, the unorthodox Irishman who has guided Hamed's career since the fighter was just seven years old.