The former featherweight champion says recurring hand injuries ended his career early, despite wanting to continue fighting
Prince Naseem Hamed says he never wanted to retire at 28, revealing that recurring hand injuries ultimately ended one of boxing’s most explosive careers. The former featherweight champion insists his body, not his ambition, made the decision for him.
“I actually felt like I would have loved to carry on. I would have loved to have done loads of stuff in the sport, but I just felt like what’s the use in trying to go and do what you were going to do, but you can’t do it because it won’t work,” said Hamed to talkSPORT Boxing. “If your hands keep breaking, and every time you hit, you get an obscene amount of pain.”
Hamed said he has no regrets about ending his career when he did. After winning a world title, making 15 successful title defenses, and capturing multiple championships, he felt he had already accomplished everything he set out to achieve.
“Stopping boxing at 28, financially secure with all my faculties. That enables me to come in here and see you today and speak the way I speak,” said Naeem. “That is a blessing in itself. Why can’t many fighters get to an age and be happy with their careers and be content? I’m content from my heart with what Allah has wrote for me.”
The Sheffield icon noted that his boxing journey stretched far beyond his professional career. Hamed began training at the age of seven before turning professional after more than a decade in the amateur ranks, spending over 20 years devoted to the sport by the time he retired.
Although he admits his hands still cause him pain from time to time, Hamed believes leaving the sport while healthy was the right decision.
Hamed retired in 2002 with a 36-1 record after winning world titles at featherweight, saying he preferred to leave the sport while still healthy rather than continue fighting through recurring hand injuries.
More than two decades later, he remains convinced it was the right decision, and became one of Britain’s most recognizable boxing stars during the 1990s and early 2000s.
