On this day in 1995: Hamed stops Robinson to win WBO featherweight title
Naseem Hamed, 21, had never boxed at featherweight when he took Steve Robinson's belt in front of the Welshman's home crowd at Cardiff Arms Park.
Naseem Hamed won his first world title 31 years ago today, stopping Steve Robinson in the eighth round at Cardiff Arms Park on 30 September 1995 to become WBO featherweight champion. The referee ended the fight 1:40 into the eighth of a scheduled 12 rounds.
The win launched the Sheffield fighter's run at featherweight. Hamed went on to hold multiple world titles in the division between 1995 and 2000 and reigned as lineal champion from 1998 to 2001.
He arrived in Cardiff as a challenger moving up in weight. Hamed had turned professional at flyweight in 1992, aged 18, and in 1994 won the European bantamweight title and the vacant WBC International super-bantamweight title. He was then named the WBO's No 1 featherweight contender despite never having boxed at that weight, which set up the challenge to Robinson, the defending champion, at the rugby ground in the Welshman's home city.
The titles followed. In 1997 Hamed added the IBF belt by stopping Tom Johnson, again in the eighth round, and in 1999 he won the WBC title against César Soto. His unbeaten record lasted until 2001, when he lost to Marco Antonio Barrera. He fought once more, beating the European champion Manuel Calvo for the IBO featherweight title in 2002.
Hamed was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2015. In 2019 The Ring awarded him an honorary featherweight title in recognition of the multiple champions he beat in the division, and he remains the only former world champion in any weight class to receive that honour.
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