Frank Warren has worked with a who’s who of boxing greats.
During an illustrious Hall of Fame career stretching back over 40 years, Warren has promoted and managed several top-rated fighters, including Tyson Fury, Frank Bruno and Joe Calzaghe.
But when asked to pick just one out of the stacked Queensberry Promotions roster, past or present, Warren went with ‘Prince’ Naseem Hamed.
“For natural talent, I’d go with Naseem Hamed,” he told talkSPORT.com.
“But going back over the years, I’ve been very lucky to promote some great fighters.
“Joe Calzaghe was a fabulous talent, Tyson Fury another fabulous talent.
“Young Moses [Itauma] is looking like he will be another fabulous talent…
“Natural talent was Naz, but he didn’t deliver as much as I thought. He could have done much better.
“He did brilliantly, but he could have done much more.
“Had he not got his family involved, looking after him, he could have been even greater.
“They basically screwed up the latter part of his career – and I think he would acknowledge that.”
Hamed is widely considered to be one of Britain’s greatest boxers of all time.
The Sheffield puncher held several versions of the featherweight world title between 1995 and 2000 and also reigned as lineal champion from 1998 to 2001.
In April 2001, after stringing together an impressive 35-fight unbeaten streak, Hamed was handed the first and only defeat of his professional career by Marco Antonio Barrera.
While Barrera trained like a madman in the soaring altitude of Big Bear, California, Hamed endured a disastrous camp.
Before even starting his preparations, Hamed already had 35lbs to lose after piling on the weight during the recovery from a broken hand.
Head trainer Emanuel Steward was also absent for all but the final two weeks of camp, and when he arrived, he was worried by the shape he found his pupil in.
On the night, Barrera outworked Hamed over the distance to get his hand raised via unanimous decision with scorecards of 115–112, 115–112, and 116–111.
Hamed returned to the ring one year later to beat Manuel Calvo on points before hanging up his gloves for good at just 28 years old.
