Prince Naseem Hamed was booed by fans after merciless Steve Robinson trolling then delivered stunning KO

Prince Naseem Hamed was 21 years old and approaching his peak when, in 1995, he was matched with Steve Robinson, then the WBO featherweight champion.

Identified by those around him as a talent of potentially the highest calibre, after 19 successive victories – he had established himself at bantamweight and super-bantamweight – against the proven Robinson he was fighting at 126lbs for the very first time.

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‘The Cinderella Man’ Robinson had become the champion in 1993 when beating John Davison for the vacant title at two days’ notice after replacing Colombia’s Ruben Palacios – the previous champion forced to withdraw from defending his title when he tested positive for HIV.

Robinson, 23 that night, had until then combined boxing with stacking shelves at Debenhams, and since then had impressed in defeating, among others, Colin McMillan, Paul Hodkinson and Duke McKenzie in a wider run of defending his title seven times.

“Steve Robinson was a very good fighter,” Frank Warren, who promoted the fight, told talkSPORT. “He’d beaten every featherweight in the UK – all the names.

“I started putting him on in Wales. We built a good following for him in Wales. He fought everyone, and he beat them all – and handily beat them.[By then] he was training for the fights; he had a date and he was working towards it, rather than being a last-minute substitute.

“[Hamed] was super fit; he was dedicated to being in the gym and working; he had a good relationship at that stage with his trainer and manager Brendan Ingle. There were the old-school journalists who didn’t like him ‘cause they thought he was too flash; disrespectful. I genuinely felt he was going to be something very special.”

The remarkably confident Hamed had already proved divisive for the brashness that became a hallmark of his ‘Prince’ persona, which had so often meant him distastefully provoking his opponents and attempting to get under their skin. The era led by Joe Calzaghe and complemented by the success of Enzo Maccarinelli, Gary Lockett and Gavin Rees was years from starting; Robinson was therefore truly relished by his fellow Welshmen, making him the darling of the crowd at the Cardiff Arms Park. 

In the build-up to his first world-title fight, Hamed, of Sheffield, paid for a van to drive around the streets of the Welsh capital to deliver, over its PA system, a message to the defending champion and his fans. “I’m The Prince,” that message started ahead of their date of September 30. “I’m going to be king. Make sure you are there for the coronation. Steve Robinson come out and fight.”

“[In private] he said, ‘Steve, you don’t know how much I’m earning; I don’t know how much you’re earning. Let’s put it all in a pot and the winner takes it’,” Warren continued. “That wasn’t in front of the press.

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“It was the whole promotion [that Hamed was doing his thing]. It was in Wales. There was hardly anyone there supporting Naz – they were all Welshmen. He got abuse going into the ring; they were throwing coins at him, and he kept his composure.”

In both the wind and the rain at Cardiff’s rugby ground in front of a passionate crowd of 16,000, Hamed fought with the same bravado with which he had carried himself throughout the previous months. He effortlessly switched stances, demonstrated his extraordinary reflexes to avoid pressure and punishment, and dispirited Robinson with punches the Welshman was ultimately unable to see.

Hamed fought much of the opening rounds with a smile on his face, before in the fifth launching his first purposeful assault. Succeeding with three big hooks and an uppercut he sent Robinson to the canvas, doing so sufficiently heavily the champion impressed in recovering to fight into the sixth. 

The challenger still appeared far from exerting himself when in the eighth he landed a both powerful and accurate left hook that again knocked Robinson over. The referee Ismael Wiso Fernandez rightly intervened to rescue him. Hamed’s five-year reign as a world champion had begun.

“I can remember a couple of times where he was talking to him [mid-fight],” recalls Warren of Hamed. “He was just superb. Going to the ring he was getting spat at and stuff thrown at him. 

“When he got into the ring he was calm as anything. Steve put up a real tough fight but he handled it, and broke him down. At one stage he threw four or five punches at [Robinson] and the combination was brilliant. He absolutely done a job on him. He went and done what he said he was going to do. It was a fantastic time. 

“He was an arrogant little sod sometimes. But I enjoyed it – it was great fun. He was good to be around at that time. It was the great start of a journey. I knew by then he was going to be a star. The next place to conquer was the States.”

For Robinson, Hamed was his greatest opponent. “He was very strong; technically good. The angles he punches at; the way he throws his shots; he had a good jab and he’s a powerful puncher. He had everything.

“His hand speed was good; he had good timing; he punched from all angles. I landed a good, clean shot on Naz and he took it well. Even though he was dropped a few times [later in his career], he had a good chin. It was more balance with him when he got dropped.”