Posturing betrays Hamed's talent

In his corner after becoming the latest of Naseem Hamed's utterly bemused victims, Juan Polo Perez smiled wistfully. If only, you could imagine the 31-year-old Colombian thinking, if only I had been blessed with this kid's talent.

As Perez once held the International Boxing Federation super-flyweight title and has been in with nine world champions, to be knocked out after five minutes of one- sided activity at the Albert Hall late on Saturday was the sort of experience that precipitates retirement.

If Perez, a veteran of 50 professional contests suspected there was a touch of exaggeration in reports of Hamed's potential, the truth dawned quickly. Yes, he was as fast as they had warned, almost impossible to hit and astonishingly unorthodox. Then came the punch, a wicked short left, that sent Perez over, scrambling his senses. If the Colombian then decided that there was no point in continuing to endure much more of the torment who can blame him? A flurry of punches, lefts and rights, and Perez was counted out. Decent pay day, busted nose.

As significantly as the victory that heightened Hamed's craving for a world championship was the type of audience he attracted for this World Boxing Council international super-bantamweight title fight. It is many years since boxing drew a near-capacity crowd at the Albert Hall and never so many young people of both genders. Hamed personifies their ideals. Brash, scornful of tradition, his growing cult status blatantly exploited by television. Restrained rhetoric does not appeal to this quite extraordinary athlete. "I'm invincible," he trumpets, and they believe him.

They see nothing untoward in the taunting of an opponent that is the least attractive feature of Hamed's style, and on Saturday drew stern rebukes from the referee, Mickey Vann. "At the end of the first round I pushed Naseem towards his corner and told him that showbusiness stops when the bell rings," he said. "And I didn't like it when after knocking Perez down the second time he snarled at him to get up. This is a dangerous business and Perez could have been badly hurt. I won't have fighters behaving like that."

Twice in a brief but spectacular career Hamed has been told by the British Boxing Board to show opponents more respect. What now? "I may have got a bit carried away," he said. "But honestly, I thought Perez could have got up after the second knock-down. It annoyed me when he didn't. That's all it was. Not lack of respect for him."

That is not how Vann and some of us at ringside saw it. We saw a young man taking liberties with a veteran pro. Those who failed to see this are not doing him any favours.

It seems an eternity since one of boxing's rising stars acknowledged the dangers of too much talk. The rowdy charm of Muhammad Ali still hangs everywhere in the sport, like party streamers that refuse to come down. With TV's bidding it is too easy to join in the parade. Chris Eubank has made a career of it.

Nevertheless, nobody can dispute the extent of Hamed's ability. John Montano, of the World Boxing Organisation, stated that he can see nobody in the sport to compare with him. "The kid is an original," he said. "So fast, so strong. At his weight he looks unstoppable." In Montano's mind this includes the WBO super-bantamweight champion, Narco Antonio Barrera. "Barrera is an outstanding boxer and powerful puncher," Montano says, "and it would be a tremendous fight, but I would have to take Hamed. He's extraordinary. A one-off."

If Hamed's conduct in the contest understandably troubled the more traditional of ringside observers - some of those who consider this to be mere cynicism on our part have not been around long enough to hold a valid opinion - his demeanour afterward could not be faulted. "I'm absolutely convinced that I will be a world champion for a long time," he said. "But I've still got to do it." In boxing, a touch of humility goes a long way.