Prince Naseem Hamed has revealed that he is disappointed with the current state of British boxing as he insists no one has come along to excite him since retiring.
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The 41-year-old is set to be inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame this weekend after ruling the featherweight division from 1995 to 2001.
Hamed lost just once in his career which came against Marco Antonio Barrera in 2001, although the Sheffield-born fighter stopped 31 of his 36 opponents as he became a star for his skills both in and out of the ring.
Despite the fact that there are now six British world champions with James DeGale, Kell Brook, Lee Selby, Carl Frampton, Scott Quigg and Jamie McDonnell all holding titles, Hamed isn’t impressed with the lack of excitement generated by the current fighters.
“One thing that has irritated me in the sport of boxing since I stopped is I’m really surprised that no one has come along to excite me like me,” Hamed said at a British boxing writers’ dinner, ESPN reports.
“I’m easily imitated, never duplicated so the saying goes. You can’t duplicate me. A lot of fighters come out with a certain amount of style and I like to see that, but they get smashed up a little bit.”
The former champ discussed various aspects of his boxing career and the current fights that he would like to see, and suggested that he may have retired too soon.
The ‘Prince’ insisted that training camps away from his family became difficult and given that he had made enough money and invested wisely, he felt it was good to get out of the sport at the right time.
Having achieved everything that he set out to as a boy, Hamed will now continue to sit back and hope that another fighter can emerge in the coming years who can couple natural talent with the charisma that made him such a popular figure.
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