On this day in 1997: Hamed stops Badillo in Sheffield
Jose Badillo's corner entered the ring in round seven as Hamed kept his WBO featherweight belt, with Calzaghe against Eubank on the same bill.
Naseem Hamed kept his WBO featherweight title in his home city 29 years ago today, when Jose Badillo's corner climbed into the ring to stop their fight during the seventh round at Sheffield Arena on 11 October 1997. The contest, scheduled for 12 rounds, ended in a technical knockout at 1:37 of the seventh.
The win came during a spell in which Hamed held multiple featherweight world titles, between 1995 and 2000. He went on to reign as lineal champion of the division from 1998 to 2001.
The Sheffield card carried a second world title fight. Joe Calzaghe met Chris Eubank for the world super middleweight championship on the undercard beneath Hamed's defence.
Hamed, born on 12 February 1974 and known as Prince Naseem, boxed professionally from 1992 to 2002. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2015.
In 2019 The Ring magazine awarded him an honorary featherweight title to acknowledge his dominance of the division and the multiple champions he defeated. He is the only former world champion in any division to have received that honour.
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Reported by the Combat Sports UK desk. Times are UK and Irish time, and we update the report when the facts change. How we work.