Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images
December 19, 1997 was a cold winter night in New York. But, as many of the great nights in boxing often materialize, the cold outside was outdone by the heated action in the ring.
On this night, that ring would be inside the legendary Madison Square Garden. Two gun slingers from opposite sides of the globe were poised for combat in front of a wild audience in “The Garden” as well as those at home watching on HBO.
The man known as “The Prince,” Naseem Hamed (28-0, 26 KOs) was the 126-pound WBO Featherweight champion of the world. At just 23, this night would be Hamed’s first bout in the United States as he was making the ninth defense of his crown.
Born in Sheffield, England, Hamed began boxing professionally in 1992. He won the European Bantamweight title in just his 12th fight and the WBC Super Bantamweight crown in his 14th. In September of 1995, he pummeled Steve Robinson to win the WBO Featherweight championship and then reeled off eight straight title defenses.
Making his mark in the ring with an unorthodox style, he also had a knack for flashy antics outside of it. Hamed was a colorful, well-schooled trash talker and carried the kind of confidence that many viewed as pure arrogance. Many boxing fans either loved him or hated him with little in between. His ring entrances were planned and contrived acts of drama and showbiz comparable to the likes of Hector Camacho, Jorge Paez and P.T. Barnum. To paraphrase Larry Merchant, if being flamboyant were a crime, he’d be on death row.
His opponent on this night would be, by far, the toughest man he’d fought to date. He would face the former Featherweight champion of the world, “The Flushing Flash,” Kevin Kelley.
The 30-year-old Kelley (47-1-2, 32 KOs) lived and fought out of Flushing, Queens, New York. For all intents and purposes, the fight against Hamed was on his turf, in his neighborhood and in his backyard.
A two-time Golden Gloves winner, Kelley won the WBC Featherweight title via unanimous decision in December of 1993 against Gregario Vargas. He was widely recognized as an elite, skillful boxer. Kelley was the epitome of a boxer-puncher and, like Hamed, he had the gift of gab and could hold his own in any verbal confrontation.
In January 1995, Kelley lost his crown to Alejandro Gonzalez. After 10 grueling rounds, his corner stopped the fight as both of his eyes were completely swollen shut. On the comeback trail, he scored a thrilling comeback win against Derick Gainer in June 1996. Again, eyes swollen shut, down on the scorecards, Kelley launched a missile that landed, knocking Gainer down and out.
With that win, as if he needed to, Kelley had solidified his place among the most exciting fighters of his day. With a streaking comet like Hamed now on the scene, and holding a crown he so badly coveted, the two agreed to meet and decide the fate of both their careers and the immediate future of the division.
Although highly skilled and talented in his own right, Hamed had many boxing pundits asking one serious question. Could he hold his own against someone as experienced and talented as Kelley? This was his chance to prove that he could talk the talk and walk the walk.
As challenger, Kelley entered the ring first. Wearing green trimmed with yellow and white, he climbed through the ropes and into the ring as the No. 3 ranked Featherweight contender. As Kelley paced the ring, the entrance of Hamed soon began.
With the song “Men in Black” blaring through the arena, fans could see the shadow of Hamed dancing behind a curtain. After five plus minutes of boogeying, the curtain dropped and the champion began his strut towards the ring while confetti rained on him from the sky. The extended show left Merchant to opine, “This is so silly it’s kinda great.” Wearing leopard trunks, Hamed climbed up the steps, placed his gloves face down on the top rope, and somersaulted into the ring.
The somersault led him face to face and nose to nose with an enraged Kelley who was visibly agitated with the long wait. The crowd, evenly split with both Kelley and Hamed supporters, were in a frenzy. Referee Benjy Esteves Jr. stepped between the two in an effort to gain support from each fighter’s camp to separate their fighters. It worked, but only briefly.
As ring announcer Michael Buffer began the introductions, both men continued to meet at center ring, jawing back and forth with one another. Hamed, who had won 18 of his 26 bouts by way of a first round knockout, promised Kelley he would fall inside of three.
Jim Lampley, Merchant and “Big” George Foreman were ringside as the bell sounded and Round 1 was finally underway.
Uniquely, both men were southpaws. The early moments were a feeling out process. Both men jabbed and moved, showing feints and circling the ring. Hamed was getting his punches off quicker and with one minute to go in the opening stanza he backed Kelley into a corner. As Kelley moved forward to keep from getting trapped, Hamed stepped straight back and leaned backward. Kelley launched a blistering right hook that sent the champion to the canvas.
As he rose to pick up the count, the crowd was on its feet as an incredible wall of sound flowed through the arena. The action resumed with Kelley immediately stepping back into the danger zone and the two traded bombs as the round came to a close.
Many were still standing as Round 2 began. Kelley began the round with a stiff right jab and began to back Hamed up. Not 45 seconds into the round, Kelley landed a devastating left hook that sent the champion to the canvas. Before Esteves could get close enough to begin the count, Hamed leaped up and ate another right hook from Kelley. The first hook nearly spun him completely around, the second bent him over face-first as his gloves again touched the mat.
This time Esteves quickly separated the fighters and began the standing eight-count. Just four minutes into the fight, Hamed had already hit the deck, officially, twice.
Kelley immediately bum-rushed Hamed when the action restarted, throwing caution to the wind and trying to end the fight with wild, wide swinging punches. The champion responded by landing a scorching straight right hand followed by a left hook. Kelley continued to chase Hamed who countered his challenger with another vicious straight right hand dropping his challenger to the mat. Lampley screamed over the thunderous applause of the crowd as Kelley lay flat on his back, “Hard right hand and there’s the power! There’s the power you were talking about! And Kelley is stunned!”
Like his opponent, Kelley quickly got to his feet. The action resumed with both men standing toe to toe. There was no more jabbing and circling. The fight rapidly deteriorated into a pier six brawl to close out the second frame.
As the third round began, it was clearly more cautious than the first two. Both fighters had earned the others respect and resumed jabbing, circling and carefully looking for spots to unload the power from their arsenals. As the last 30 seconds of the round ticked down, the two began trading more freely to end the third.
With three rounds now in the books, the judges had the fight scored 28-27 Kelley, 28-27 Kelley, and 28-27 for Hamed.
As Round 4 got underway, both men again began swinging hard lefts and rights. As both men stood in the center of the ring, Hamed unloaded a two left hooks and Kelley again crumpled to the canvas. He rose, took the standing eight-count, and looked at his corner to smile and nod. As Hamed leapt in to attack, Kelley countered with a right hook that shook Hamed, his gloves again grazing the deck. Esteves immediately began the count and scored it a knockdown.
The action was flowing at a furious pace as Kelley then drove Hamed backwards, snapping his head back. As it looked as if he were going to reclaim command, Kelley ate a hard, twisting left hand that sent him down for good. Foreman screamed, “He’s for real! The Prince is for real!”
As Kelley climbed to his feet, Esteves waived his hands to halt the action. A thrilled Merchant exclaimed, “This was the Hagler-Hearns of the Featherweight division!”
The two men then embraced after the pitched battle. The blazing action, free-wheeling bombs, and incredible back and forth earned Ring Magazines “Fight of the Year” honors for 1997. The two spoke of a rematch in the ring, however, they would never meet again.
Kelley fought 21 more times in a 12 year timespan into 2009. Going 13-8 in that stretch, he faced and lost to both Erik Morales and Marco Antonio Barrera. Moonlighting as a commetator for HBO Boxing, he retired from the ring with a record of 60-10-2 with 39 knockouts. He was a warrior until the end.
After beating Kelley, the class of fighters Hamed faced continued at an elite level. Adored by his countrymen, he beat Wilfredo Vasquez, Wayne McCullough, Paul Ingle and Cesar Soto. In April of 2001, Hamed was beaten soundly by Barrera, suffering the first and only loss of his career. He would return to the ring one year later in May 2002, winning a sloppy unanimous decision. To the shock of many, he would never return to the ring.
